The Israeli military carried out airstrikes and ground operations across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while Egyptian negotiators were working on plans for a possible ceasefire that would halt the conflict for weeks.
The Israel Defense Forces reported that an airstrike in the Beit Hanoun area killed two militants involved in a terrorist attack against Israel on October 7.
Other Israeli attacks occurred in central Gaza and in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he planned to issue a warning to Israel on Wednesday about the need to facilitate more humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip to address what Cameron called “horrible suffering.”
“People are dying from hunger; people are dying from preventable diseases,” Cameron told parliament on Tuesday night.
Cameron said he would raise the issue during a meeting with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz during his visit on Wednesday.
International mediators met again in Cairo on Wednesday, pushing to secure a six-week ceasefire ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected to begin on March 10.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the question of whether to suspend fighting again “is now in Hamas’s hands.”
But at the same time, he said Israel had “no excuse” but to allow more humanitarian aid into the war-torn territory to aid starving Palestinians.
“We need a ceasefire,” Biden told reporters as he left the presidential residence at Camp David outside Washington.
He warned that dangers would increase if Israel and Hamas failed to reach a ceasefire in Gaza before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week.
“If we get into a situation like this, and this continues during Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem … could be very, very dangerous,” Biden said.
Biden’s comments came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to maximize “everything possible” to provide more humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying the current situation for tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians was unacceptable and unacceptable continuous.
“Israel must maximize every possible means, every possible method, to provide assistance to those in need,” Blinken said before meeting Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the State Department. assistance.”
Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s call for Israel to open new crossings to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, a move Israel has resisted.
“It requires more crossings. It requires more aid coming in. Once the aid comes in, you need to make sure it gets to the people who need it. So we will continue to press every day because this situation is simply unacceptable. ,” Blinken said.
The besieged Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean coast is now facing famine, with aid already sharply reduced since the war began last October and further reduced in the past month.
“We have an opportunity to cease fire immediately, return hostages home, and thereby significantly increase the amount of humanitarian aid provided to Palestinians who desperately need assistance. … Hamas should decide whether it is ready to participate in a ceasefire,” Blinken said.
“Qatar, the United States and our partners will remain committed to ensuring this deal is reached,” said Sheikh Mohammed, standing next to Blinken.
Israel, which is not involved in the Cairo talks, accuses Hamas of not providing a list of hostages still held by militants in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official told reporters on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for the failure to reach an agreement and that the onus to push for action rested with Israel’s ally, the United States.
Melissa Kurma, director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, said Biden’s public assertion that the decision was in Hamas’ hands was “a type of pressure” common in high-level negotiations.
“We have also seen Hamas respond to some of these statements,” Kurma told VOA. “This is part of the process. It uses public platforms to put pressure on ongoing private negotiations.”
But she stressed that the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza was putting ultimate pressure on negotiators to reach a deal to stop the fighting.
“This is a reminder of how important these negotiations are to allow us to take the first steps toward a ceasefire, a much-needed humanitarian pause, access to aid and the return of hostages so that we can begin to think about what future conflicts will look like during and after conflict,” Kudos said. Erma said.
Israel has vowed to end the threat of another Hamas attack like the one in October that killed 1,200 people, according to Israel’s count. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel’s counteroffensive since then has killed more than 30,700 people in Gaza, about 70% of whom were women and children. Another 72,100 Palestinians were injured.
VOA’s Jeff Seldin, Margaret Beshear and Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some information comes from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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