Day 168 of the Israel-Hamas Gaza War
1. World Bank Report Cautions: Imminent Risk of Famine in Gaza Strip:
Half the population of the Gaza Strip, one million people, is at imminent risk of famine, the world bank report says, as food shortages reach alarming levels. The world bank said urgent action is required to prevent high mortality rates from starvation within the next two months.
The international community responded rapidly to the data provided. UN secretary general, António Guterres, called on Israel to give immediate and unconditional access to Gaza for aid via land. “I call on the Israeli authorities to ensure complete and unfettered access for humanitarian routes throughout Gaza,” Guterres said, prior to a meeting with the European Commission’s president in Brussels.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield referred to the threat of famine in Gaza as "a dire crisis," and called for the elimination “of all barriers to the full and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid." USAID administrator Samantha Power called the situation a "horrific milestone," and called on Israel "to take immediate action to put an end to this mass, and preventable, suffering." The White House said the U.S. is "deeply concerned" about the report indicating imminent famine in Gaza.
International human rights groups Oxfam and Human Rights Watch sent a joint memorandum to the Biden administration, calling for the immediate suspension of US arms transfers to Israel, considering Israel's alleged violations of humanitarian law, including the blocking of U.S. funded humanitarian aid.
2. Israeli Army Returns to Shifa General Hospital in Gaza
Almost six months into the war, months after the first assault on Shifa, the Israeli army launched another operation targeting Gazas’ Shifa general hospital in Gaza city, and army units returned to the site.
Israel claims that Shifa hospital is used by Hamas and gives shelter to the militia fighters and their army bases. Earlier this week, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) declared that Israel has captured more than 300 Hamas military members who were involved in terrorists attacks over the years. Some of them, according to the statement, were released in the last exchange deal with Hamas, in which Hamas released one Israel soldier! Gilad Shalit, after years in captivity, and in return Israel, under PM Netanyahu released more than one thousand Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Some of them, originally from the West Bank, were sent by Israel to Gaza, where they joined central Hamas circles and, according to Israel, intensified their activities against Israel. An IDF spokesperson named some of those Hamas militants as serving as high rank officers in the organization.
3. Negotiations for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire/Hostage Deal Resume:
The Israeli delegation for the ceasefire/hostage deal talks, headed by Mossad Director David Barnea departed for Qatar on Sunday this week, to resume negotiations. The delegation’s departure to Doha, Qatar was delayed, after Shas leader Aryeh Deri said at a Friday cabinet meeting that the delegation should not fly to Doha on the Jewish Sabbath, as it was not a matter of pikuah nefesh, the rabbinic principle that lifesaving activities take precedence over the strict observance of the sabbath. According to Israeli media reports, Deri said that the delegation should depart only after the security cabinet has met on Sunday this week to stipulate “red lines” for the negotiations team.
Deri’s intervention sparked criticism, as it was perceived as reflecting the government’s lack of commitment to strike a deal to save the lives of the 134 hostages still held captive by Hamas.
The media reported that the current round of talks will take at least two weeks and will be conducted directly with Hamas military arm leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be in the Gaza tunnels. The timeframe also reflects Sinwar’s request to be personally involved in naming the Palestinian prisoners to be released in the framework of a hostages/prisoners’ exchange deal.
The framework for the current deal is a 42-day ceasefire, and the release of 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners, including prominent ones serving time for acts of terror.
According to media reports, at the moment, there is no breakthrough in the negotiations and a deal is not yet in sight. According to a report by Ha’aretz, Qatar's foreign ministry said that the sides are not close to a cease-fire deal, but that Doha remains hopeful, and warned that an Israeli operation in Rafah will set back negotiations. CIA Director, Bill Burns and Mossad Chief Barnea will return once again to Doha, Qatar, in an attempt to advance negotiations. The US submitted a draft UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasfire, tied to the release of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas.
The families of hostages continue their public advocacy efforts for the immediate release of their loved ones. Earlier this week, hostages’ family members rallied outside the Knesset and handed food baskets containing the small daily portion of food provided to the hostages. Families of American hostages released a statement calling on the Biden administration "to keep pushing all parties to strike a deal that brings every single hostage home." They also demanded that the international community "put pressure on Hamas to lay down their arms and return our family members to us now."
4. Israel Prize Fiasco Ends with Minister of Education’s Retraction of Decision to Cancel
The public controversy surrounding this year’s Israel Prize traditional ceremony has ended, after Education Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud) retreated from his position to cancel this year’s Israel Prize in the traditional categories, and to only award prizes in two new categories related to the October 7th attack and the current ongoing Iron Swords war.;
The Israel Prize is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. The prize has existed since 1963. It is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony held in Jerusalem on Independence Day, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset (Israel's legislature), and the Supreme Court President, to researchers, artists, and entrepreneurs in the fields of sciences, humanities, arts and innovation.
The Israel prize fiasco broke out several weeks ago, when an Israeli media outlet reported that minister of education Kisch, decided to cancel this year’s Israel prize in regular categories, when he learned that the committee selecting the recipients in the field of innovation decided to grant the prize to hi-tech entrepreneur and businessman Eyal Waldman, a vocal critic of the judicial overhaul and of PM Netanyahu. Waldman lost his daughter at the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on October 7th. In response, leading academics and former Israel Prize recipients filed a petition to the high court of justice, claiming that the minister has no legal authority to make changes to the Israel Prize categories and process. Waldman himself, in a heartfelt address to the Knesset Science Committee alleged that minister Kisch and close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put pressure on the relevant Israel Prize selection committee to change its decision to award him the honor.
Citing “national unity” as the reason for going back on his initial decision, minister Kisch lamented the fact that the attorney general Baharav-Miara made it clear that her office will not defend his position in court.
The Israel Prize, a symbol of Israel’s intellectual, cultural and artistic prowess, and the autonomy of its various selection committees, has once again by tarnished by political interests and pressures.
Recipients of the prize in new war-related categories include three fighters killed on October 7th who will be honored post-mortem with the prize in the new category of “courage under fire”. Dr Kochav Levy-Elkayam will receive the Israel Prize in the new category of “Solidarity” for her work to document sexual violence by Hamas on October 7th.
5. Canada Decided to Impose Arms Embargo on Israel
Canada is the first country that is regarded as friendly to Israel, that has decided to ban any military aid to Israel. The house of commons voted almost unanimously on the initiative led by the new democratic party in Canada, that supports PM Trudeau. Canada will halt any future arms shipments to Israel. This extreme Canadian policy is based on the position that Israel is not making enough effort to protect civilians in Gaza. The Canadian minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly was the initiator of the policy.
Other democratic countries who usually sell arms and ammunition to Israel also expressed their concern about the condition of the civilians in the Gaza Strip, who are facing a growing humanitarian crisis, and have already announced that they will evaluate their policies. Other European countries have already declared they will also embargo arms support to Israel, while Spain, Belgium and the UK are also considering taking the same step. All EU countries have imposed sanctions on individual Jewish settlers for violating international law, Italy refused to accept an individual who was nominated as the Israeli ambassador, because he lives in a settlement in the West Bank. This trend that started some week ago from an executive order signed by President Biden, is expanding internationally.
The Israeli Defense Force ability to fully operate in Gaza and on other fronts is based mainly on American military aid, and supplies from other countries that produce ammunition and other materiel to support the variety of weapon platforms used by the IDF.
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