PALESTINIAN President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an immediate ceasefire following Israel’s sustained attack on Gaza.
During a meeting with the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in West Bank on Sunday, November 5, Mahmoud disclosed that the ceasefire was necessary to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“I have no words to describe the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law,” Mahmoud was quoted to have said.
The rising number of civilian deaths in the war has led to heightened calls for a ceasefire from other world leaders, including Jordan and Egypt, who have maintained that Israel’s month-long attack on Gaza, which has resulted in the death of nearly 9500 Palestinians, could not be justified as self-defence.
“We don’t accept that this is self-defence. It cannot be justified under any pretext and it will not bring Israel security, it will not bring the region peace,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said during a press conference on Saturday, November 4.
However, Blinken rejected the idea of a ceasefire during talks in Jordan, saying it would give room for Hamas to regroup and advocating for a humanitarian pause instead.
“A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7. No nation, none of us would accept that … So it is important to reaffirm Israel’s right and its obligation to defend itself,” Blinken said.
More people are being killed in Israel’s attack on Gaza, including about 50 refugees who died during an air raid on the Al-Maghazi camp by the Israeli military late on Saturday.
Israel’s attack on Gaza began after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on October 7 during a major Jewish holiday, leaving about 250 Israelis dead and about 1,500 injured.
Head of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing Mohammed Deif said the attack was a reaction to Israel’s 16-year blockade of Gaza, raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa, increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and the growth of settlements.
Israel had retaliated in a bloody bombardment of Gaza, and almost 9,500 Palestinians have been killed as a result.
The country stopped all fuel, electricity, telecommunication, internet services, food and essential supplies into Gaza as part of its war strategies, despite warnings by humanitarian agencies that such moves would disrupt their activities.
The UN Human Rights Office described the attacks on refugees as “disproportionate” and a move likely to “amount to war crimes.”
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.