Image: APA/AFP/MENAHEM KAHANA
The ceasefire in the Gaza war was extended on Thursday and further hostage releases were announced, but this was overshadowed by a terrorist attack by two Hamas members on a bus stop in Jerusalem, which left three dead and several injured.
According to Israeli media reports, the attackers came from the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem. They killed Israelis and were then shot by Israeli soldiers and an armed civilian, Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said at a press briefing. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
During a visit to the crime scene, Israel’s Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir viewed the attack in Jerusalem as evidence that his country should not show weakness. You can only talk to the radical Islamic Hamas “through rifle scopes, only through war.” The minister, who is considered a right-wing hardliner, announces that the government wants to further relax regulations on issuing firearms licenses to private individuals.
Minister Blinken at Herzog
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Tel Aviv yesterday, said the attack demonstrated “the threat of terrorism that Israel and Israelis face every day.” He expressed his condolences to the victims.
At the same time, at a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Blinken emphasized how essential the ceasefire was from the US perspective. “This process is producing results, it is important and we hope it can continue.”
With the extension of the ceasefire, more hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip could be released and more humanitarian aid could reach the sealed-off coastal area on the Mediterranean.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said yesterday that 1,132 trucks carrying aid supplies had crossed the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip by Wednesday. It was not specified what goods were involved.
The ceasefire has been in effect since last Friday, 6 a.m. CET. Since then, around 100 hostages kidnapped to the Gaza Strip have been exchanged for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. The break in fighting agreed between Israel and Hamas was recently extended by two days. According to the original agreement, the break could be extended to up to ten days.
A list of women and children had been handed over in accordance with the agreement, so the ceasefire would continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said early yesterday. The negotiators negotiated until the last minute. The war cabinet had unanimously decided the evening before that fighting would resume immediately unless a list was presented by 7 a.m. Thursday as agreed, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
US Secretary of State Blinken reiterated US support and Israel’s right to self-defense at a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. Because of the very high number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden is under pressure in his country. The Washington Post reported that Biden is calling on Israel to show more consideration for civilians if fighting is expected to continue.
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Source: Nachrichten
