Israel says it is open to ‘fighting pauses’ for aid in Gaza

We knew that something must give in the war between Gaza and Israel as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Israel in order to convince Netanyahu to have some sort of pause in fighting in order to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza as well as facilitate the safe passage of hostages and civilians from the war-affected regions. While the Israel PM denied any such arrangements, it is now reported that Israel is ready to do some kind of pauses in fighting. Blinken met the Palestinian minister before visiting Israel which could also be to negotiate some sort of agreement in order to facilitate this pause.

Blinken also said yesterday that he has to tell Israel how these pause in fighting would take place and when it would end as well as how it would affect their position. Israel’s military said “Having encircled the densely populated Gaza City in the north of the enclave, where the Hamas Islamist group is based, it had taken a militant compound and was set to attack fighters hiding in a warren of underground tunnels”. Netanyahu added in his statement that “As far as tactical little pauses – an hour here, an hour there – we’ve had them before. I suppose we’ll check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave,” but also mentioned that he doesn’t think “there’s going to be a general ceasefire.”

While the US is pushing Israel for ceasefire, it also feels that Hamas will take advantage of a ceasefire to regroup and intensify its war against Israel. Netanyahu added that after the war ends, “Israel will for an indefinite period … have the overall security responsibility (in Gaza) because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.” On the other hand, the UN General Secretary says, “Ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces and continued bombardment are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and U.N. facilities – including shelters. No one is safe,” and adds that Gaza has become a “graveyard for children” due to this war.