Washington on Tuesday called for urgency and flexibility to finalize a truce deal in Gaza after the deaths of six hostages at the hands of Hamas, pledging to continue their efforts in the coming days. “There are still dozens of hostages in Gaza, still waiting for an agreement that will bring them home. It is time to finalize this agreement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Latest news
⇒ US justice system pursues Hamas leaders for “terrorism”
⇒ US pushes for Gaza truce deal
⇒ Continuation of Israeli raids in the West Bank, 30 dead according to Palestinian sources
US pushes for Gaza truce deal
The United States said Tuesday it was “time to finalize” a Gaza truce deal, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to give in to pressure on the issue, in the 11th month of the war with Palestinian Hamas.
The US statement comes two days after the Israeli army announced the discovery in a Gaza tunnel of six hostages killed according to it at “point-blank range” by the Islamist movement. The hostages were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip during an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 against Israel, which led to Israeli reprisals that left tens of thousands dead in the besieged Palestinian territory, the target of new deadly strikes on Tuesday.
US Justice Department Prosecutes Hamas Leaders for “Terrorism”
The US justice system on Tuesday made public the charges against six senior officials of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar, considered the mastermind of the October 7 attack, on charges of “terrorism”. Six Hamas leaders, including its former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, assassinated in Tehran on July 31 in an operation attributed to Israel, as well as his successor Yahya Sinwar, are targeted by the charges filed on February 1 before the federal court in New York.
At that time, Yahya Sinwar was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since then, in addition to Ismail Haniyeh, two other leaders, including the head of Hamas’s armed wing, have been killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli raids continue in the West Bank, 30 dead according to Palestinian sources
The Israeli army is continuing its operation in the northern occupied West Bank for the seventh consecutive day, where at least 30 people have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli army launched a vast operation on August 28, described as “anti-terrorist” in several cities in the northern West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where armed groups fighting against the Israeli occupation are particularly active. Two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday “in the Israeli aggression on the suburb of Dhnaba, east of Tulkarem,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
A 16-year-old girl was also killed by the Israeli army in Kfar Dan, a village in the Jenin governorate, a city further north, according to the same source. During operations in the Jenin area, soldiers began to surround two structures in which “armed terrorists” had taken refuge, the army told AFP.
“Execution” of Israeli hostages: UN wants independent investigation
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an “independent, impartial and transparent” investigation into the “summary execution” of six Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, in a message on X”#Gaza: We are horrified by reports that Palestinian armed groups have summarily executed six Israeli hostages, which would constitute a war crime,” the High Commissioner also wrote.
High Commissioner Volker Türk also called for those responsible to be “accountable”. The Israeli army announced on Sunday the discovery in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip – the scene of a devastating war that has pitted Israel against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for almost eleven months – of the bodies of six hostages killed according to it at “point-blank range” by Hamas. But according to a Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, the six hostages were “killed by gunfire and bombardments from the occupier”.