Israel’s Netanyahu approves new round of Gaza ceasefire talks

Tel Aviv, Israel:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday approved new talks on a Gaza ceasefire, a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to ensure immediate humanitarian aid reaches people in the Palestinian territory.

But fighting continued Friday, including at hospitals, despite a binding U.N. Security Council resolution this week demanding an “immediate ceasefire.”

The conflict also had regional consequences, with Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon, and several Hezbollah fighters killed in Syrian attacks, which a war monitor blamed on Israel.

They appeared stalled days after Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage releases would be held in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days … with guidelines for moving forward in the talks.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said in its ruling, “Palestinians in Gaza are now not only at risk of famine, but … are facing famine.”

Philip Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, posted on Twitter that the decision was “a clear reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man-made + getting worse”.

The court ruled in January that Israel must provide “urgently needed” humanitarian aid to Gaza and stop genocidal acts, but Israel rejected the case brought by South Africa.

The latest binding ICJ ruling, which has little means of enforcement, came as Israel’s military said Friday it was continuing its crackdown on al-Shifa hospital, the region’s largest, for a 12th day.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said dozens of people were killed overnight across the coastal region.

Twelve of the dead were killed in a house in the southern city of Rafah, which has been regularly bombed in advance of Israeli ground operations.

AFPTV images show men working by mobile phone light to rescue people trapped under debris after the airstrike.

The ICJ ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective measures “without delay” to ensure “the supply of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

‘Immediate ceasefire’

The war began with an October 7 attack by Hamas, resulting in about 1,160 Israeli deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 32,623 people, mostly women and children.

Large parts of the area have been reduced to rubble and most of Gaza’s population is now taking refuge in Rafah.

On Monday the UN Security Council called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, the release of hostages held by Hamas and “ensuring humanitarian access”.

Member states are obliged to follow such resolutions, but the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said nothing had changed on the ground.

Aid groups say only a fraction of essential supplies have been allowed to arrive since October, when Israel almost completely besieged Gaza.

Israel has accused the Palestinian side of laxity, namely a lack of capacity to deliver aid, with humanitarians saying not enough trucks are allowed to make deliveries.

With limited ground access, several countries have staged air drops, and a sea corridor to Cyprus has delivered its first food aid.

heavy damage

The UN says Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to ongoing hostilities and access barriers”.

Israel’s military has accused Hamas and Islamic Jihad of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people – allegations the activists deny.

On Friday the army said it was “continuing precision operation activities” in Shifa hospital where it launched the raid early last week.

Troops first raided al-Shifa in November, before Israel announced in January that it had completed “eliminating” Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza. The army said Palestinian groups and commanders had returned to al-Shifa.

Netanyahu said troops were also capturing the “northern Gaza Strip” and the southern city of Khan Younis amid heavy fighting.

“We have divided the Strip into two parts and we are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said on Thursday.

Netanyahu is under domestic pressure over his failure to bring home all the hostages captured by Hamas on October 7. Israel says about 130 detainees remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

The army said about 200 operatives were killed during the latest al-Shifa operation.

The army said on Thursday that near al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, troops launched “targeted attacks on terrorist infrastructure”, killing dozens in the fighting with air support.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli tanks and armored vehicles had converged around another Khan Younis health facility, Nasser Hospital.

Analysis of satellite images showed heavy damage to the areas around Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.

deadliest count

Since the Gaza war began, Israel has stepped up its attacks in Syria, targeting army positions and Iran-backed forces, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a key ally of Hamas.

Israeli air strikes in northern Syria on Friday killed at least 42 people, six Hezbollah fighters and 36 Syrian soldiers, a Britain-based war monitor said.

And Israel’s military said it killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit, in an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have tried to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, but talks appeared deadlocked more than halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Tensions have risen between Netanyahu and Washington, which provides billions of dollars of military aid but has become increasingly vocal about the war’s impact on civilians.

Washington has also raised the issue of post-war governance of Gaza. It has suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the new government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who said his Cabinet would work on “an approach to reuniting the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza.”

Hamas forcibly seized Gaza from Abbas’s government in 2007.

Netanyahu says Israel must have “security responsibility” in Gaza, and has rejected calls for a Palestinian state.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)