According to the UN, Israel has agreed to stop using its weapons for hours on end for several days to allow vaccinations. This does not mean the end of the war. Fighting continues on other fronts as well.
While Israel’s army is taking action against Palestinian militants as part of its large-scale operation in the West Bank, ceasefires lasting several hours in the Gaza Strip are intended to enable the mass vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children against polio. According to the United Nations, Israel agreed to daily, limited ceasefires starting Sunday.
Meanwhile, the US is increasing pressure on Israel after shots were fired at a UN vehicle. The ally explained the incident as a communication error between the armed forces, said the US deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Polio vaccinations to begin in Gaza
After the discovery of polio viruses in sewage, the United Nations decided to vaccinate around 640,000 children under the age of ten in the Gaza Strip. Starting this Sunday, fighting will cease from morning to afternoon for three consecutive days in three parts of the sealed-off coastal strip, said Rik Peeperkorn, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Gaza. He cited a promise from the Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, Cogat.
EU foreign minister Josep Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels: “Let us hope that it is not too late. Let us hope that this glimmer of hope in a sea of despair can save lives and prevent the tragedy of children falling ill with polio.” The forum of relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas urged in a letter to the WHO that the kidnapped children also be vaccinated.
Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis, especially in young children, and can lead to death. There is currently no cure.
US increases pressure on Israel after shooting at UN vehicle
After a UN vehicle was shot at on Tuesday, the United Nations had demanded clarification from Israel. The clearly marked vehicle was part of an aid convoy whose journey was coordinated with the Israeli army. It was shot at ten times by Israeli gunmen. “We have called on them to immediately fix the problems in their system that made this possible,” said Wood.
But almost eleven months after the start of the conflict, such incidents are “still all too common,” he said in New York. The harsh rhetoric from Israel against the UN and humanitarian aid workers must also stop.
Meanwhile, the EU is considering sanctions against members of the Israeli government for the first time. Chief diplomat Josep Borrell presented a proposal for punitive measures against the right-wing extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
They are accused of human rights violations and incitement to hatred. Ben-Gvir recently spoke out in favor of stopping aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip in order to force the Islamist Hamas to give up. Smotrich expressed similar views. He described a possible blockade of aid until all Israeli hostages were released as moral and justified, even if this meant the starvation of two million people in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Smotrich admitted that the international community would not allow such an approach.
Meanwhile, Israel’s army has said it has ended its operation in the refugee district of Faraa in the north of the West Bank. The army has not yet given any information on how long it will continue to take action against militant Palestinians in the towns of Jenin and Tulkarem. According to Israeli media reports, the operation could last several days. According to Palestinian and Israeli sources, at least 16 people have been killed so far. Israel began the large-scale operation on Wednesday night.
At least 16 dead in the West Bank
An Israeli army spokesman justified the action with the significantly increased number of attacks on Israelis. At the same time, violence by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory has also increased. The situation has worsened significantly since the start of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7. Since then, 640 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks in the West Bank, according to the Ministry of Health.
According to military analysts, Israel’s current large-scale operation poses strategic risks for Israel, wrote the Wall Street Journal. Israel’s armed forces are under severe strain from the almost eleven-month-long battle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the conflict with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which is also supported by Iran. The military relies heavily on reservists who are exhausted from Israel’s longest war in decades, it said. The West Bank threatens to become a third front for Israel’s overstretched military, alongside Gaza and the conflict with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Israel’s Defense Minister proposes expanding war aims
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant said, with regard to the situation in the border area with Lebanon, that it was necessary to expand the war’s aims. “We must ensure the safe return of the northern communities to their homes. To achieve this goal, we must expand the war’s aims,” he said during strategic consultations with military officials. “This will not diminish our absolute commitment to the destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages,” Galant said, according to his office.
After renewed shelling by Hezbollah, the Israeli Air Force attacked several of the militia’s rocket launchers during the night, the Israeli army announced early in the morning. A missile fired from Lebanon into Israel landed in open territory. No injuries were reported, it said. The other missiles did not penetrate Israeli territory. This could not be independently verified.
Israel and Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, have been fighting almost daily since the beginning of the Gaza war. In places on both sides of the border, around 150,000 people have had to leave their homes as a result. The Shiite militia says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. Israel wants Hezbollah to withdraw behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from the border – as stipulated in a UN resolution.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
