U.S. PURSUING GAZA CEASEFIRE
AMERICAN EFFORTS MADE AT UN AS NETANYAHU DEFENDS STRIKE ON BUILDING HOUSING MEDIA
The United States told the United Nations Security Council on Sunday it has made clear to Israel, the Palestinians and others that it is ready to offer support “should the parties seek a ceasefire” to end the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
“The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-greenfield told the 15-member council. “Because we believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security.”
As the security council held its first public meeting after two private briefings last week, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Israel’s campaign in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza was continuing at “full force.”
Netanyahu also defended an Israeli air strike on Saturday that destroyed a 12-storey building where the Associated Press and the Al Jazeera TV network had offices. He said the structure also housed a militant group’s intelligence office and was thus a legitimate target.
“We are acting now, (and) for as long as necessary, to restore calm and quiet to you, Israel’s citizens. It will take time,” Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation after meeting with his security cabinet.
Washington — a strong ally of Israel — has been isolated at the United Nations over its objection to a public statement by the Security Council on the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in years because it worries it could harm behind-thescenes diplomacy.
“We call upon the U.S. to shoulder its responsibilities, take a just position, and together with most of the international community support the Security Council in easing the situation,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired Sunday’s meeting because China is president for May.
China said on Sunday it would again push the council to try to agree on a statement.
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the United Nations was “actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire” and called on them “to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed.”
He told the Security Council that hostilities in Israel and Gaza were “utterly appalling” and called for an immediate end to fighting.
The truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have so far offered no sign of progress. The United States sent an envoy to the region and President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.
Jordan’s King Abdullah also said on Sunday that his kingdom was involved in intensive diplomacy to halt the escalating violence, but did not elaborate on the diplomacy, which was communicated via a news flash on state media.
The death toll in Gaza jumped to 192 on the weekend, including 58 children, amid an intensive Israeli air and artillery barrage since the fighting erupted last Monday. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, in thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
An Israeli airstrike destroyed several homes in Gaza on Sunday, killing 42 Palestinians.
The Israeli military said the civilian casualties were unintentional. It said its jets attacked a tunnel system used by militants, which collapsed, bringing the homes down.
“These are moments of horror that no one can describe. Like an earthquake hit the area,” said Mahmoud Hmaid, a father of seven who was helping with efforts to clear rubble from one of the wrecked buildings.
Across the border in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, Zvi Daphna, a physician, whose neighbourhood has been struck by several rockets, described a feeling of “fear and horror.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israel’s response to indiscriminate attacks by Hamas strictly adhered to international law and that the country was taking “unparalleled steps to prevent civilian casualties.”
“Israel uses its missiles to protect its children. Hamas uses children to protect its missiles,” Erdan said.
Beyond the current flare-up in the conflict, the 22-member Cairo-based Arab League called on Biden’s administration “to engage in a more active and influential and deeper way in the Middle East peace process,” Arab League UN envoy Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the Security Council.