JERUSALEM, Mac 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday, rejected the U.S. call to cancel a ground operation in Rafah city, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians resided, but agreed to send a delegation to Washington for discussions.
The White House confirmed in a statement that Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, agreed in a phone call on Monday, that their teams would meet “soon” in Washington, to “exchange views and discuss alternative approaches” to a major ground operation in Rafah.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that, the delegation, led by Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, will be dispatched next week “for the sake of the continuation of the fighting.”
Earlier yesterday, Netanyahu said in an address to the parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that, a ground assault is the only way to defeat Hamas militants in Rafah. He said, he “made it as clear as possible” to Biden that Israel is “determined to complete the elimination of (Hamas) in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion.”
Meanwhile, Israeli troops have continued their raid on the al-Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City for the second day, attacking the enclave’s largest hospital with tanks and airstrikes.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement that, the troops killed more than 50 Palestinian militants and about 300 have been detained during the raid, which targeted “senior” Hamas militants. Two Israeli soldiers were killed during the raid, IDF announced.
Israel launched its offensive on Gaza on Oct 7 in response to Hamas’s attack and immediately implemented a blockade on water, food, electricity, and medicine, creating acute shortages.
UN agencies and aid organisations assert that the quantity of aid permitted by Israel to enter Gaza falls short of the desperate needs required to prevent the imminent spread of famine.
“Projected imminent famine in Gaza can be prevented,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in a video statement.
“The extent of Israel’s restrictions on entry of aid, together with the manner in which it conducts hostilities, may amount to use of starvation as a method of war,” he warned.
His remarks came, a day after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released a report alarming that “famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-Mac and May.”
The war has left about 1.1 million people, about half of Gaza’s population, experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, according to the report.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on social media platform X that, at least 23 children have already died of acute malnutrition and an increasing number of children are on the brink of death, due to starvation, mainly in northern Gaza.
Israel denied it was obstructing aid trucks. Commenting on the report on X.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has reached 31,819, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, yesterday.– NNN-XINHUA
