Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have relented under the US pressure on allowing humanitarian pauses in war with Hamas militants in the Gaza strip. In an interview with the US channel ABC News, Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire without the release of hostages but agreed to have “tactical little pauses” for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
The United States have been pushing Israel to allow “humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza war. This is different from a ceasefire as it will involve small pauses in the fighting to allow aid to enter the war-torn territory. It won’t be a one week ceasefire but a two-three hours of pause in the fighting.
Netanyahu also revealed his post-war plans and said that Israel will have “overall security responsibility” for the Gaza Strip for “an indefinite period” after the fighting is over.
It has been one-month since the war broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last month after a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. More than 1,400 people, mostly non-combatant children, women and foreign nationals, were murdered as militants rampaged through Israeli communities near the Gaza border.
In response, Israel declared a war against Hamas and vowed to destroy the Palestinian militant and political organisation. More than 10,000 people have been killed in Israel air and ground assault in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The Israeli strikes have intensified in the recent days and a coordinated ground assault is also underway in the Hamas-controlled territory. Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has said that its troops have reached the coastline and cut the Gaza city into two.
As the conflict reaches its one month mark, UN chief António Guterres has demanded an urgent ceasefire, warning the situation in the Gaza Strip has become a “graveyard for children” and “a crisis of humanity”.