‘Go the extra mile’ for truce

AFP | United Nations 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The head of the United Nations called yesterday for Israel and Hamas to “go the extra mile needed” to seal a truce and “stop the present suffering” in their devastating war in the Gaza Strip.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said he was “deeply concerned” by indications showing a large-scale Israeli military operation in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah may be “imminent,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

“I reiterate my urgent call to the Israeli government & Hamas leadership to come to an agreement & stop the suffering,” Guterres said via the UN’s X account.

US President Joe Biden yesterday warned Netanyahu against invading Rafah as Israel defiantly issued evacuation orders and carried out intense air strikes on the crowded Gaza city.

The US said it was reviewing a response from Hamas, with CIA Director Bill Burns in the region to negotiate through Arab allies.

Biden told Netanyahu in April that invading Rafah would be a “mistake,” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told him last week in Jerusalem that there should be no offensive due to the safety of some 1.2 million civilians sheltering there.

Rockets

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said its fighters had launched rockets from Gaza towards southern Israel late last night in response to Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory.

“We have targeted Sderot, Nir Am, and settlements in the Gaza envelope with rocket barrages,” the Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement, referring to a zone of southern Israel close to Gaza.

The Israeli army said sirens sounded in communities near the Gaza Strip.

Evacuate

Israel carried out intense air strikes on Rafah late yesterday after reiterating a call for people to evacuate the east of the city in southern Gaza, according to an AFP correspondent.

The strikes had been virtually continuous in the past 30 minutes, the correspondent on the ground in Rafah said shortly before 10 pm (1900 GMT).

Celebrations

Crowds danced, cheered, and fired in the air in the streets of the southern Gaza city of Rafah yesterday after Hamas said it approved a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas said it had accepted a proposal for a truce in the seven-month-old war in Gaza, after Israel told Palestinians in Rafah to evacuate ahead of a long-threatened invasion of the city.

There was no immediate official response from Israel, and its close ally the United States said it was “reviewing” Hamas’s response.