Despite UN vote: fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues
Another air raid alert sounded in the city of Sderot and other southern Israeli towns on Wednesday. The Israeli army declared that most of the rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip had been intercepted. The army also carried out an airstrike on a militant cell in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in the city of Gaza in the northern Gaza Strip, "which was in the process of firing rockets at Israel".
The Israeli army also announced that 115 Israeli soldiers had been killed so far in its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, ten of them in battles in the north of the Palestinian territory on Tuesday alone.
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, at least 50 people were killed in Israeli air strikes. The attacks took place in Gaza as well as in Nusseirat and Deir al-Balah in the center and in Rafah and Chan Junis in the south, where Israel suspects Hamas leaders and the hostages they are holding.
More than two months after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, the UN General Assembly in New York voted last night in favor of a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. 153 of the 193 member states voted in favor, ten against, including the USA and Israel. Both argue that a ceasefire would play into the hands of Hamas. 23 member states abstained, including Germany.
The Federal Foreign Office justified its abstention in the short message service X (formerly Twitter) by stating that the draft resolution concealed Hamas ' "barbaric" attack on Israel and "at least implicitly" questioned Israel's right to "defend itself against this Hamas terror". The ministry also rejected a "no", referring to "the suffering of the Palestinians" and the release of the remaining hostages. Germany is committed to "humanitarian pauses".
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and carried out the worst attack on the country since the founding of the state 75 years ago. According to Israeli reports, around 1,200 people were killed and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians. Hamas is still holding more than 130 hostages.
Israel responded with massive air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip and a ground offensive, announcing that it would destroy Hamas and free the hostages. According to Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip, which cannot be independently verified, more than 18,400 people were killed in the Israeli attacks, most of them women and children.
US President Biden said at an election campaign event in Washington on Tuesday that "most of the world" had backed Israel after the Hamas attack. "But they are about to lose that support because of the indiscriminate bombing that is taking place." At a later press conference, however, Biden was more cautious: the US stands with Israel, but there is great concern about "the safety of innocent Palestinians".
At the campaign event, Biden also denied that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was prepared to accept a two-state solution. "This is the most conservative government in the history of Israel," said Biden. It does not want a two-state solution and Netanyahu must "change his position" on the issue.
Biden had previously held talks with Netanyahu. Afterwards, Israel's head of government said that there was a "difference of opinion" between the allies on how to proceed after the end of the war in the Gaza Strip. He would not "repeat the mistake of Oslo". Netanyahu was alluding to the Oslo Accords signed in the USA in 1993, which gave the Palestinians autonomous administration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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Source: www.stern.de
