top of page
Writer's pictureFlow Australia

Israel rebuffs calls for ceasefire as Gaza is encircled

Officials from several countries say they are trying to resume the ability of people to cross the Rafah border point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.



Israel has rebuffed growing international pressure for a ceasefire and says its forces have encircled Gaza City as the top US diplomat scrambled to contain a crisis threatening to cause further escalation in neighbouring Lebanon.


Gaza was under "unprecedented bombardment" from Israel on Sunday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, while Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said that all communications and internet services had once again been cut.


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was making an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank.


But after Blinken repeated US concerns a ceasefire could aid Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled that out unless hostages held by Hamas were released.


"There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages," he said.


A military spokesman said Israeli forces had surrounded the main city in Gaza.


"They reached the coast in the southern part of Gaza City and they encircled Gaza City," he said.


Tensions increased with Lebanon as an Israeli strike on a car in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, Lebanese authorities said.


Israel's chief military spokesperson said the military had attacked "terrorist targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon" in response to a missile attack against tanks that killed an Israeli citizen. He said a Hezbollah drone was also shot down.


Hezbollah said it responded by firing rockets at the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. The group said it would never tolerate attacks on civilians and its response would be "firm and strong".


Sirens sounded across central Israel, with Israeli media reporting rockets struck areas in and around Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported.

Gaza health officials said more than 9770 Palestinians have been killed in the war, which began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1400 people and taking more than 240 hostage.


Israel said 31 of its soldiers have been killed so far.


At the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, where the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people in an overnight strike, people searched for victims or survivors.


In a separate attack, 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, were killed in strikes overnight, the health ministry said. The IDF declined to comment.


Reuters could not independently verify these accounts.


"We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately," Abbas told Blinken, urging an "immediate ceasefire" from Israel.


Palestinians were facing a war of "genocide and destruction", news agency WAFA quoted Abbas as saying.


Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met Blinken in Amman on Saturday and also urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire. Blinken also visited Iraq on Sunday and held talks with Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.


But Blinken says a ceasefire would benefit Hamas, allowing it to regroup and attack again. Instead, the US wants localised pauses in fighting to allow in humanitarian aid and for people to leave Gaza.


Blinken said the Palestinian Authority should play a central role in the future of the Gaza strip, a US official said after the West Bank visit.


Efforts were under way on Sunday to resume evacuations of foreign nationals and injured Gazans through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, suspended since Saturday after a deadly attack on an ambulance, Egyptian, US and Qatari officials said.


The Rafah crossing to Egypt's Sinai peninsula is the only exit point from Gaza not controlled by Israel. Aid trucks were still able to travel into Gaza, two Egyptian sources said.


Evacuations began on Wednesday under an internationally brokered deal.


The UN humanitarian office estimates that nearly 1.5 million of Gaza's 2.3 million people are internally displaced.


Commenti


bottom of page