Israel-Hamas war: Gaza truce plan fails at UN, Israel detains 500 terrorists at hospital

Washington has failed to pass a UN resolution on an “immediate” ceasefire as Israeli forces detained “hundreds” of Hamas fighters during a raid into Gaza’s main hospital.

Israel plans to send troops into Gaza’s Rafah even without US support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday local time, as Washington failed to pass a UN resolution on an “immediate” ceasefire.

Mr Blinken said the Rafah offensive risks “further isolating Israel, jeopardising its long-term security”.

He said that the US shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas and ensuring its long-term security, but that a Rafah operation “is not the way to do it.”

“It risks killing more civilians. It risks wreaking greater havoc with the delivery of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardising its long-term security and standing,” Mr Blinken told reporters.

Almost six months of Israeli bombardment since Hamas’s October 7 attack has brought Gaza to its knees with many thousands killed, infrastructure shattered and widespread warnings that its 2.4 million people are on the verge of famine.

Washington has repeatedly blocked ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council but tried to pass a text mentioning an “immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage deal”.

World leaders including staunch allies of Israel backed the renewed diplomatic push, but China and Russia vetoed the US text after Moscow complained that the language was too weak and put no pressure on Israel.

Mr Blinken has been on a whistlestop tour of the region to support truce talks in Qatar that involve indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas officials.

The violence meanwhile continued, with Israeli forces raiding Gaza’s largest hospital complex for a fifth day, claiming to have killed more than 150 “terrorists” in the ongoing operation Hamas has labelled “criminal”.

Israel also continued to pound the southern city of Rafah and its surroundings, where most of Gaza’s population has taken shelter.

Standing in the ruins of a partly destroyed house in Rafah, resident Nabil Abu Thabet said “innocent civilians” had been pulled out “in pieces”.

“People were targeted at 1:00 am, when they were asleep,” he told media.

Mr Netanyahu said he had told Mr Blinken on Friday that there was “no way to defeat Hamas” without invading Rafah, a plan that has provoked international concern for civilians trapped there.

According to Mr Netanyahu, in a statement after meeting Mr Blinken, “I told him I hope to do that with the support of the United States, but if we need to, we will do it alone.”

ISRAEL DETAINS 500 TERRORISTS AT GAZA HOSPITAL

Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters including a number of security officials and military commanders during its extended raid into Gaza’s main hospital, the military’s main spokesperson said.

Israeli troops entered the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the early hours of Monday morning and have been combing through the sprawling complex, which the military says is connected to a tunnel network used as a base for Palestinian fighters.

Among the detainees were three senior Islamic Jihad military commanders and two Hamas officials responsible for operations in the occupied West Bank as well as other Hamas internal security officials, the New York Post reported.

“Those who did not surrender to our forces fought against our forces and were eliminated,” Hagari told a briefing late on Thursday, during which he displayed a composite picture of what were described as detainees.

On Friday, the military said some of the photographs were of militants who had not been detained but whose pictures were included through human error.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run government media office, said the misidentification and the inclusion of pictures of medical staff and people outside the country showed the Israeli military was spreading false narratives to justify its assault on the hospital.

Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, is now one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in the north of the territory, and had also been housing displaced civilians.

Israel faced heavy criticism last November when troops first raided the hospital. The troops uncovered tunnels there, which they said had been used as command and control centres by Hamas. Hamas and medical staff deny that the hospital is used for military purposes or to shelter fighters.

In recent days, Hamas spokespeople have said that the dead announced in previous Israeli statements were not fighters but patients and displaced people and have accused Israel of war crimes.

US resolution on Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal vetoed by Russia and China
The Guardian/ Julian Borger in Washington and Jason Burke in Jerusalem/23.3.2024
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/gaza-ceasefire-vetoed-un

Five-month impasse in UN security council extends as Netanyahu insists Israel will press ahead with new offensive against Rafah.

A US resolution urging a ceasefire in Gaza linked to a hostage deal has been vetoed by Russia and China in the UN security council, extending a five-month impasse in the international body over the Israel-Hamas war which has killed more than 32,000 people.

Eleven council members voted for the resolution on Friday morning; Russia, China and Algeria voted against it and Guyana abstained. As permanent security council members the Russian and Chinese votes counted as vetoes.

It was unclear on Friday morning whether there would be a further vote on an alternative resolution demanding an immediate and unconditional ceasefire drafted by other council members. The US has warned it would veto such a resolution, suggesting the deadlock in the body, tasked with safeguarding international peace and security, would continue.

At the same time, in Israel, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, shrugged off US objections and insisted Israeli forces would press ahead with a new offensive against the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, which has been the last refuge for more than a million displaced Palestinians. Netanyahu said Israel “will do it alone” if necessary.

Before the vote, the Russian envoy to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, pointed out that the US had used its veto four times on Gaza (against three ceasefire resolutions and one Russian amendment) since the war started on 7 October, and noted that the US resolution did not directly demand a ceasefire but rather “determines the imperative” of a ceasefire.

“To save the lives of the peaceful Palestinian civilians, this is not enough,” Nebenzya said. He added that any council member voting for the resolution “will cover yourselves in disgrace”.

After the vote, the US envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Russia and China had opposed the resolution because they could not bring themselves to support the clauses in it condemning Hamas.

“The second reason behind this veto is not just cynical, it’s also petty,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Russia and China simply did not want to vote for a resolution that was penned by the United States because they would rather see us fail than to see this council succeed.”

Another resolution has been drafted by elected members of the council with a direct demand for a ceasefire, but Thomas-Greenfield warned that the US would veto that text if it was presented for a vote, on the grounds that it did not support negotiations under way in Doha on a deal which would establish a ceasefire in return for Hamas freeing its hostages.

“Worse is that it could actually give Hamas an excuse to walk away from the deal on the table,” she said. “All of us want to see this council speak out, but we should not move forward with any resolution that jeopardises the ongoing negotiations.”

The alternative resolution was reported to be on hold on Friday morning, while council members held consultations.

Sherine Tadros, the head of the New York office of Amnesty International described the US resolution as “an attempt by the US to absolve themselves of the abysmal record Biden has had so far on Gaza, and submit a resolution that is not going to end the war”.

“This moment requires unequivocal action by the security council, whose mandate is to maintain international peace and security, calling for an immediate ceasefire,” Tadros. “It shouldn’t really be so hard for them to do that.”

The US gave the same reason for its veto of an Algerian ceasefire resolution over a month ago, but the hostage talks in Doha remain deadlocked. The CIA and Mossad directors, William Burns and David Barnea, were in Qatar on Friday for weekend negotiations with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and Mohammed bin Hamad al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar.

Explaining his country’s vote against the US resolution, the Algerian ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, pointed to the absence of a direct demand for an immediate ceasefire.

“The text presented today does not convey a clear message of peace,” Bendjama told the council. “It is a laissez passer to continue killing the Palestinian civilians.”

On a particularly bad day for US diplomacy, Netanyahu issued a video statement to reporters during a visit by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, defying repeated US appeals not to go ahead with plans for an offensive on Rafah, on the grounds it would cause further mass civilian casualties.

The Israeli prime minister said he recognised the need to evacuate the civilian population from combat zones and “see to the humanitarian needs”.

But he added: “We have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah and eliminating the remnant of the battalions there. I told him that I hope we would do this with US support but if necessary – we will do it alone.”

On leaving Israel after his one-day visit, Blinken said he had “candid conversations” with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, and restated US objections to a Rafah offensive.

“It risks wreaking greater havoc with the humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardising its long-term security and standing,” the top US diplomat told reporters.

Analysts in Israel say it is unclear if Netanyahu is genuinely committed to launching a military assault into Rafah despite US opposition, using the threat to add pressure on Hamas in the hostage talks, or is playing to his political base in Israel with the intention of blaming Washington if the Rafah assault is called off, and Netanyahu fails to achieve the declared war aim of “crushing” Hamas.