8 months ago
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Comments by Benny Gantz come as Israel continues to threaten a ground invasion of Rafah
Three gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on several vehicles near a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Thursday, wounding eight people in a “terror attack”, police said.
The news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP), report that the incident occurred near Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. Police said the attackers had arrived in a vehicle.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a Knesset vote endorsing his stand against a unilaterally declared Palestinian state was supported by an “overwhelming majority against the attempt to impose on us the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would not only fail to bring peace but would endanger the state of Israel.”
The US has told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that the Hamas attack on 7 October demonstrated Israel’s “legitimate security needs” in any solution to conflict in the region. The US urged the court not to “find that Israel is legally obliged to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from occupied territory”, but instead “preserve and promote the established framework” for reaching a two-state solution. Russia and France will make oral submissions to the court later on Wednesday.
New fighting and a deepening breakdown in public order in northern Gaza have derailed a humanitarian effort to avert a famine in parts of the battered territory, with senior aid officials describing an “incredible level of desperation” as food supplies run out.
The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel says it found evidence of “systematic and intentional” rape and sexual abuse during the Hamas attack on 7 October, and claimed that Hamas chose to use “sadistic sexual crimes” in order to “harm Israel strategically”. Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of the organisation, said “The report, submitted to decision-makers at the UN, leaves no room for denial or disregard. Silence is no longer an option. We expect international organisations to take a clear stance”.
At least two people have been killed by what has been described by Syria’s media as an Israeli airstrike on Damascus. A residential building was struck in the Kafr Sousa district of the capital. Israel’s military have not commented on the claim.
The UK government will consider suspending arms export licences to Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with a potentially devastating ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza. Ministerial sources said the UK had the ability to respond quickly if the legal advice to ministers said that Israel was in breach of international humanitarian law.
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