Israeli defence minister says 'Gaza is burning' as ground assault targets Gaza City
by The Journal Team, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/the-journal-team/ · TheJournal.ieLAST UPDATE | 11 hrs ago
ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” as the Israeli military began its threatened ground assault targeting Gaza City before dawn.
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City this morning. By noon, the city’s Shifa Hospital had received the bodies of 34 people killed in the strikes, said Dr Rami Mhanna, a hospital official.
Dozens of wounded had also come into the facility, he said.
“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, the hospital’s director, told The Associated Press. “The bombing did not stop for a single moment.”
Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south.
A United Nations probe, meanwhile, charged Israel with committing genocide in the Palestinian territory and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials of incitement.
During the night, the military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City as Israeli troops moved deeper into the territory’s largest urban hub.
“Last night, we transitioned into the next phase, the main phase of the plan for Gaza City… Forces have expanded ground activity into Hamas’s main stronghold in Gaza, which is Gaza City,” a military official told journalists.
“We are moving towards the centre” of Gaza City, he said. When asked whether troops had moved deeper into central Gaza City he replied: “Yes.”
The military estimated there were “2,000-3,000 Hamas” militants operating in the area, he added.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said Gaza City was “on fire”.
“The IDF (Israeli military) is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the necessary conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he said.
“Gaza is burning,” he said. “We will not relent and we will not go back – until the completion of the mission.”
Witnesses told of relentless bombing of Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
“We can hear their screams,” said 25-year-old resident Ahmed Ghazal.
A group representing the families of hostages held by Hamas said they were “terrified” for their loved ones after Netanyahu ordered the strikes.
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“He is doing everything to ensure there is no deal and not to bring them back,” they said in a statement.
The assault came shortly after a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio yesterday offered robust backing for the offensive as he met Netanyahu, who has ordered the Israeli military to seize Gaza City.
Rubio told reporters as he left Israel: “We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go.”
Before flying out to Qatar, Rubio said he hoped the US ally would keep up its Gaza mediation efforts, despite Israel carrying out air strikes against Hamas leaders gathered in the Gulf emirate last week to consider a US truce proposal.
“We want them to know that if there’s any country in the world that could help end this through a negotiation, it’s Qatar,” Rubio said.
Genocide
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak for the world body, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.
“The responsibility lies with the State of Israel.”
The investigators said explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities along with the pattern of Israeli forces’ conduct “indicated that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy… Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group”.
The report concluded that Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant have “incited the commission of genocide”.
Israel said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the “immediate abolition” of the COI.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he welcomed the report and condemned Israel’s actions following the report.
“It’s very, very clear from that report that a genocide is taking place, and Israel will have to be held to account, and the Government of Israel would have to be held to account for what is happening and the atrocity carries on,” he said.
“The Minister of Defence in Israel this morning declared that Gaza City is burning. What kind of mentality is informing Israeli Government behavior?
“In my view, United States and Europe and the wider world has to increase the pressure on Israel to stop this carnage and stop the slaughter of innocent civilians and get a massive, massive surge of aid into Gaza.”
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris has welcomed the “light that the UN inquiry has shone today on what is a genocide in Gaza”.
“I remember, when I was Taoiseach last November, being the first European head of government to say that this was and is a genocide and now an inquiry has determined that as well.”
He says this inquiry “shows to be true what the Irish people have known in their hearts and what they have witnessed with their eyes and the television screen”.
He has called on the EU again to impose sanctions on Israel, saying these are “now absolutely essential”.
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Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, UN investigation finds
“We have been pushing this for a very long time, and yes, there’s things we can do at a domestic level, and we should and we will, but none of that will be in any way as impactful as the European Union together taking decisions.”
He has also called on the EU to publish the details of the proposals for sanctions and says he wants “an opportunity to vote for those sanctions on behalf of Ireland.”
President Michael D Higgins suggested Israel and countries that supply it with weapons should be excluded from the United Nations.
Speaking to reporters at the National Ploughing Championships as one of his last major public appearances before the end of his term in office, Higgins reacted to the findings of what he described as a “very important document”.
Higgins said: “I believe myself that the kind of actions that are necessary now are the exclusion of those who are practising genocide, and those who are supporting genocide with armaments.
“We must look at their exclusion from the United Nations itself, and we should have no hesitation any longer in relation to ending trade with people who are inflicting this at our fellow human beings.”
This morning, Harris joined foreign ministers from 15 other countries, including Spain and Qatar, to express their concern for the Global Sumud Flotilla’s security, which is currently making its way towards the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid.
The 15 countries have citizens on the flotilla. The flotilla left Tunisia yesterday after multiple delays, in part due to two reported drone attacks on vessels.
“We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the Flotilla, to respect international law and international humanitarian law.
“We recall that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the Flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability,” the statement concluded.
Today, more than 100 Irish civil society organisations signed an open letter calling on Ireland to join the Hague Group, a collection of nations pushing for the International Court of Justice and its rulings to be respected and adhered to.
“The atrocities being inflicted on the Palestinian people go beyond what imagination can grasp,” the letter read.
“Ireland must not fail to join the Hague Group in ending complicity in this genocide and prosecuting those responsible. We welcome the Government’s attendance at the Hague Group summit, but now attendance must be matched by action.”
- Reporting by Christina Finn, David Mac Redmond and Emma Hickey, Kate Henshaw and AFP
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