LIVE | Day 32: Netanyahu says Israel will have ''overall security responsibility'' in Gaza after war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza “for an indefinite period” after its war with Hamas and expressed openness to “little pauses” in the current fighting to facilitate the release of hostages.
His comments, in an interview that aired late Monday (November 6) on ABC News, offered the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu ruled out any general ceasefire without the release of the more than 240 captives seized by Hamas in its October 7 raid into Israel, but he said he was open to “tactical little pauses.”
US President Joe Biden had raised the need for humanitarian pauses directly with Netanyahu on a call earlier on Monday (November 6), but no agreement was reached, the White House said.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 10,000, including more than 4,100 children and 2,640 women, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the October 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday (November 1) under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel, and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
Follow this space for more updates.
Fresh from a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shifted his intense diplomacy on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia on Tuesday with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia's war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, shortly after talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The devastating monthlong conflict in Gaza and efforts to ease the dire humanitarian impacts of Israel's response to the deadly Oct 7 Hamas attack will be a major focus of the meeting. Yet with the Russia-Ukraine war, fears North Korea may be readying a new nuclear test, and concerns about China's increasing global assertiveness, it is far from the only crisis on the agenda.
In Tokyo, Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy will be seeking common ground in part to prevent the Gaza war from further destabilising already shaky security in the broader Middle East and seeking to maintain existing consensus positions on other matters.
Kamikawa said Japan “unequivocally condemns” the Hamas' attack on Israel, supports US efforts to find a way forward and said that "solid unity between Japan and the US is especially critical at this point.” “We appreciate the diplomatic efforts of the US in the recent situation between Israel and Palestine,” she said. “You have our utmost support.” Those efforts include significantly expanding the amount of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza, pushing Israel to agree to “pauses” in its military operation to allow that assistance to get in and more civilians to get out, beginning planning for a post-conflict governance and security structure in the territory and preventing the war from spreading.
Blinken described all of these as “a work in progress” and acknowledged deep divisions over the pause concept. Israel remains unconvinced and Arab and Muslim nations are demanding an immediate full cease-fire, something the United States opposes. There has also been resistance to discussing Gaza's future, with the Arab states insisting that the immediate humanitarian crisis must be addressed first. — AP
“We must find a way to hold on to our common humanity.”
As the crisis in the Middle East continues to unfold with devastating consequences, @antonioguterres calls for an end to hateful rhetoric and provocative actions. https://t.co/053QypSvWT pic.twitter.com/c0HEaGSUTd— United Nations (@UN) November 7, 2023
The death toll has risen to 10,328, with 4,237 children among the victims. Additionally, more than 25,965 people have been injured in the attacks since October 7.
Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo criticised Israel's attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza as disproportionate. He insisted that bombing a refugee camp, even if it allegedly houses a Hamas leader, is unacceptable when it leads to numerous civilian casualties. De Croo also pointed out that both Israel and Hamas frequently violate international humanitarian law. He urged Hamas to release innocent hostages immediately.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel might consider temporary "tactical pauses" in the fighting to allow for the entry of aid or the safe exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip. However, he reiterated his refusal to agree to a ceasefire despite mounting international pressure.
The Israeli construction industry is reportedly waiting for the government to allow companies to recruit one lakh construction workers from India to replace the 90,000 Palestinians whose work permits have been cancelled by Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
The vice president of the Israel Builders Association, Haim Feiglin, was quoted by Voice of America, “Right now, we are negotiating with India. We are waiting for the decision of the Israeli government to approve that. And we hope to engage 50,000 to 1,00,000 workers from India to be able to run the whole sector and bring it back to normal.”
There was no response from India’s external affairs ministry.
In May, Israel and India signed a deal to allow 42,000 Indian construction workers and nurses to work in Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in an interview with Piers Morgan, slammed Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie for her recent remarks on the war in Gaza.
Herzog said that Jolie has not visited Gaza and that she was not offering the Israelis any ability to defend themselves by her remarks.
He said, “I totally reject her claims. I think she’s never been in Gaza, to visit and see the facts on the ground. In Gaza now there is war, but there is no humanitarian crisis that does not enable them to survive.”
He continued, “Gaza is a jail not because of Israel. Israel pulled out of Gaza. It is an Iranian base filled with terror. Perhaps the outcome of this war will enable the Gazan people who deserve a decent good life to enjoy it under a different regime that will enable movement towards peace.”
Angelina Jolie in a social media post referred to her experience working with the UN to help refugees and said her focus was on the people displaced by violence in any context.
She said, "What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge. Gaza is fast becoming a mass grave as a result of Israel's airstrikes and the world watches as millions of Palestinian civilians - children, women, and families - are being collectively punished."
In an interview with the US TV broadcaster ABC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would have “overall security responsibility” for Gaza once the fighting ends.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi urged India to “use all its capacities” to end Israeli attacks in Gaza. He did this during a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (November 6).
The Iranian statement said, “Today, India is expected to use all its capacities to end the Zionist crimes against the oppressed people of Gaza.”
Raisi recalled India’s struggles against western colonialism and its position as one of the founders of the non-aligned movement. He went on to say that Iran supports any global joint effort to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, lifting of the blockade, and supplying aid to the Palestinians.
The UN Security Council on Monday failed again to agree on a resolution on the month-long Israel-Hamas war.
Despite more than two hours of closed-door discussions Monday, differences remained. The US is calling for “humanitarian pauses” while many other council members are demanding a “humanitarian ceasefire” to deliver desperately needed aid and prevent more civilian deaths in Gaza.
“We talked about humanitarian pauses and we're interested in pursuing language on that score,” US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters after the meeting. “But there are disagreements within the council about whether that's acceptable.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier on Monday told reporters he wanted an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and a halt to the “spiral of escalation” already taking place from the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Syria to Iraq and Yemen.
Guterres said international humanitarian law, which demands protection of civilians and infrastructure essential for their lives, is clearly being violated and stressed that “no party to an armed conflict is above” these laws. He called for the immediate unconditional release of the hostages Hamas took from Israel to Gaza in its October 7 attack.
China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council, called Monday's meeting because of the “crisis of humanity” in Gaza, where more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in less than a month.
UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh said all 15 council members “are fully engaged” and efforts will continue to try to narrow the gaps and reach agreement on a resolution.