TRANSCRIPT
Support for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is diminishing, with critics calling his handling of his country's relations with the US as "dangerous".
The Israeli leader attacked one of his nation's greatest allies for their decision to abstain from a United Nations resolution that called for a ceasefire in Gaza, declaring his intentions to move on with the offensive.
Protesters took to the street of Tel Aviv, calling for the Israeli government to reach an agreement that will lead to the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Among the protester's group were relatives of the hostages.
One of them, Gil Dickmann, says the government must prioritise the release of the captives.
“We’re calling for a hostage deal now. We’ve been calling for a hostage deal for a long time. We know that there is a deal on the table, and we know that the negotiations are the only thing the can bring about an actual deal. You can’t stop negotiating while there are hostages still held captive inside Gaza. You can’t do that. You have to make sure that you do whatever you can to get them all back home. Get the deal done.”
US officials say their decision not to block the resolution vote by the UN, as they have done in previous occasions, was because it reflected their own view that the ceasefire and the hostage release must be achieved at the same time.
However, they say that they could not support it entirely because the vote did not include a condemnation of Hamas.
The US has been engaged in negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Qatar [[cutter]] and Egypt for the past several weeks in its attempts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
Robert Wood is the US's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations.
“Yesterday, we abstained on a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza until the end of Ramadan and the release of all hostages. We have been clear and consistent in our support for a ceasefire as part of the hostage deal. Because the final text did not have key language we think is essential, like a condemnation of Hamas, we could not support it. However, because it fairly reflects our view that a ceasefire and the release of hostages come together, we abstained.”
Mr Netanyahu's office indicated that the decision by the US not to veto the U-N's ceasefire resolution vote was stalling the hostage release discussions between Israel and Hamas.
US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller has described that statement as both unjust and unfair.
“That statement, which I believe said that Hamas pulled out of the hostage talks or Hamas rejected the most recent proposal because of the United Nations Security Council resolution, that statement is inaccurate in almost every respect and it is unfair to the hostages and their families. The description of Hamas's response that has been aired in the public is all from news reports. It's not the actual substance of the response. And I can tell you that that response was prepared before the U.N. Security Council vote, not after it. So, for the United States, we are not going to engage in rhetorical distractions on this issue. We are going to continue to work to try to bring the hostages home.”
With the US - Israel relations at their lowest point since the start of the conflict in Gaza, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington DC.
The two men discussed the developments in Gaza and methods of defeating Hamas without increasing the number of human casualties.
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled his own trip to the US capital where he was due to meet with a number of local officials to discuss wartime strategy.
Mr Austin says more aid needs to be allowed into Gaza to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
“We need immediate increases and assistance to avert famine and our work to open a temporary humanitarian corridor by sea will help. But the key is still expanding aid deliveries by land. So, Mr. Minister, I look forward to discussing how we can dramatically and urgently ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
A UN official has expressed his concerns over the number of casualties that could result from an Israeli offensive in Rafah.
Tor Wennesland, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, says over a million people in the region are under threat of starvation.
“I'm extremely concerned by the possible nightmare of more than 1 million people being displaced if Israel proceeds with its planned ground operations in Rafah. The world's leading experts on food insecurity also clearly document that famine in the northern part of Gaza is imminent. Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering. I call on Israel to fulfill its obligation under international law, including allowing and facilitating the rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access into and throughout Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Israel is facing a new, damning report by the UN which accuses them of genocide and human rights violations.
The report, dubbed "The Anatomy of a Genocide", was presented by the UN's Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese.
She says Israel is acting with the intent of erasing the people living in Gaza.
“I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met. Specifically, Israel has committed three acts of genocide with a requisite intent, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in all or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the group. The genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of a long-standing settler colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians.”
Israel has rejected those claims, saying their only target is the elimination of Hamas.
