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06-11-2023
GAZA CITY: It’s gone midnight in London, 02:00 in the morning in Gaza and Israel, and 03:00 in Turkey – where America’s top diplomat has arrived for talks.
This follows Antony Blinken’s visit to the West Bank and Iraq on Sunday during a diplomatic dash of the region. He’s been discussing efforts to prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading and continues to push for a pause in the fighting.
Journalist Anthony Zurcher points out he is trying to find a middle ground where none currently exists. The Israeli PM has rejected the idea of a humanitarian pause for now, while Israel’s Arab neighbors have been calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Turkey’s relations with Israel have become increasingly frayed as the death toll in the conflict mounts.
Meanwhile, Israel says its forces have cut Gaza in two after its ground offensive against Hamas reached the Mediterranean coast in the Palestinian territory. A military spokesman said Gaza City was now completely encircled.
There have been airstrikes and huge explosions in the north of the enclave, the most intense since the war began, a reporter in the Gaza Strips tells us. Phone and internet services have again been cut.
The UN which is housing many of the 1.5 million displaced Gazans, says 48 of its sites across the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war broke out.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA has said 48 of its sites across the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war broke out.
The agency reminds people that 1.5 million Gazans have been displaced, and it says almost half of them are sheltering in its installations.
As we reported yesterday, the UN says its shelters are increasingly overcrowded and those in the south are unable to accept new arrivals. Many displaced people are sleeping on the streets near UNRWA facilities, it says.
Israel has declared northern Gaza an evacuation zone, with that part of the territory the focus of its military operation against Hamas.
For three days, the US’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, has been dashing around the Middle East, trying to contain a situation that threatens to spin out of control. Israel on Friday.
Every stop posed its own challenges and gave reason to be pessimistic that much progress is being made. The central challenge facing the US secretary of state is that he is trying to find a middle ground where none, at the moment, exists.
On Friday, Blinken encouraged Israeli leaders to make temporary pauses in hostilities in order to ease humanitarian aid and encourage hostage releases, a move the Israeli prime minister quickly rejected. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
