By Ken Afor
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sunday, made an unanticipated visit to the controlled West Bank where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas implored him to encourage Israel to ceasefire as more fatalities occurred due to an attack on a refugee camp.
A spokesman for the health ministry, governed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, mentioned that the Israeli military had launched an airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp which resulted in the death of 47 people.
The Gaza health ministry reported that 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, had been slain in Israeli air raids that happened during the night.
“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Abbas told Blinken, demanding an “immediate ceasefire” from Israel.
“There are no words to describe the war of genocide and destruction to which our Palestinian people are being subjected in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli war machine, without regard to the rules of international law,” Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Abbas as telling Blinken.
On Saturday, Foreign Ministers from Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates convened with Blinken in Amman and urged the United States to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
However, Blinken refused the proposal, arguing that it would just provide benefits to Hamas and let them stage a renewed attack.
In contrast, the US proposed pauses in clashes so that important aid and evacuations would be attainable in the crowded Gaza area.
“The Secretary reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, Abbas’s influence has been significantly reduced.
Israel claims that it is aiming its weapons at Hamas and not civilians, and suggests that Hamas are using Palestinian citizens as shields.
On Sunday, Gaza health officials reported that, since Hamas fighters launched a strike on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in 1,400 deaths and the taking of over 240 hostages, almost 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the connected war.
Two Egyptian security sources and a medical source told Reuters that evacuations of injured Gazans and foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing to Egypt have had to be halted since Saturday due to an Israeli strike on Friday that targeted an ambulance transporting injured people.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reprimanded a minor government official due to the individual’s indication of possible nuclear assault on the Gaza Strip.
Subsequently, Israeli forces carried out multiple raids on the Gaza Strip by sea, air and land, causing catastrophic destruction.
A reportedly significant number of houses in the Maghazi refugee camp were destroyed as a result of the assaults. When questioned for details, the Israeli military mentioned they were gathering information.
