Israel raids northern Gaza as US renews call for 2 state solution on day 20 of conflict

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have acknowledged that Israeli troops invaded northern Gaza on October 26, marking the twentieth day of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The IDF initiated the operation in Northern Gaza to make ready for the next phases of warfare; they targeted anti-tank missile launch locations, infrastructure, and other Hamas terrorist cells.

But Israeli forces quickly left the Gaza Strip and went back to their own land. Since the October 7 Hamas attack, Israel has bombarded Gaza nonstop, killing many people and causing extensive property damage. To destroy Hamas, the Israeli government has stated that it is prepared to launch a full-scale air, sea, and land attack on Gaza.

Since October 7, Israeli airstrikes have killed 6,546 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 2,704 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. It stated that the number included 756 deaths in the previous 24 hours, 344 of whom were minors, and that a total of 17,439 injuries had occurred. US President Joe Biden acknowledged that “innocents have been killed, and that’s the price of waging a war.” However, I don’t think the Palestinians’ number is reliable.

Joe Biden renewed his call for a two-state solution after the current Israel-Hamas conflict is finished, urging Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate coexisting in peace. According to the US president, he “did not demand” that Israel postpone a ground invasion of Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military was “getting prepared” for the ground invasion of Gaza with the goal of destroying Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities. In a televised statement, the Israeli prime minister said his war cabinet was “working around the clock” to reach victory.

According to a report, the Pentagon is working to deploy systems to protect US troops in Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Israel has agreed to allow the US to get its air defences to the region before an anticipated ground invasion of Gaza.

Riyad al-Maliki, the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, met with top ICC officials on Wednesday in The Hague. Maliki arrived for his visit one day after criticising the UN Security Council’s lack of action. Fatah is in charge of the Palestinian Authority, which also claims Gaza but has no authority there. It controls parts of the West Bank.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation demanded that Hamas give evidence of the lives of the hostages it is holding and free them all on the grounds of health. According to the WHO, the International Committee of the Red Cross should have instant access to healthcare in order to determine their current state of health.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) warned that unless fuel supplies are received, relief work in Gaza will have to come to an end on Wednesday night. Water pumps, bakeries, and hospitals can also stop working. According to Oxfam, Israel is using famine as a military tactic against civilians living in Gaza.

UNRWA reported that a “close proximity strike” resulted Israeli “severe collateral damage” to a school in Gaza that was providing shelter to Palestinians. There was one civilian fatality and forty-four injuries, including nine children, it said. The UN says about 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now internally displaced.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza claimed the lives of an Al Jazeera correspondent’s whole immediate family. Israel had issued a warning to residents residing in the northern portion of the region to evacuate, and Wael al-Dahdouh had gone to the Nuseirat camp with his family. The bombing late on Tuesday killed Al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter, and grandson and occurred after an overnight flurry of deadly Israeli attacks.

A comprehensive blockade, a severe fuel shortage, and constant Israeli bombing have left Gaza’s hospitals in a condition of disarray and weariness, according to a Red Cross team assessing the region’s medical facilities.

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, expressed his dismay at what he considered the Israeli government’s misrepresentation of his statements to the UN, implying that he had justified the Hamas attacks of 7 October. Israel has called for his resignation and moved to withdraw travel visas for UN officials.

The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s claim that Hamas is not a terrorist outfit has been “wholeheartedly” rejected by Israel. Hamas “is a liberation group, mujahideen, defending their lands,” Erdoan told lawmakers from his party. In addition, Erdoğan declared that he was calling off a trip to Israel.

Though his government has cautioned that an Israeli invasion may endanger such efforts, Qatar’s prime minister expressed optimism that the discussions it is leading for the release of Hamas hostages will soon reach a breakthrough.

In order to allow relief to reach people in need, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has asked for pauses in the battle. On Wednesday, Sunak in the Commons specifically refrained from endorsing a complete ceasefire.

According to Emmanuel Macron, if Israel conducted a “massive” ground invasion into Gaza, it would be a “error.” Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt, was in Cairo for discussions with the president of France. The latter urged efforts to “avoid a ground invasion.”

According to the UN, Gaza’s economy was destroyed by Israel’s siege, and 80% of its citizens were dependent on outside aid even before the current crisis broke out. It said that due to a “decades-long” siege, 45% of people in Gaza are unemployed and two-thirds of the population live in poverty.

After Russia vetoed the US’s most recent draught resolution supporting Israel’s right to “collective self-defense” and for “humanitarian pauses” to let aid into Gaza, the US expressed its profound disappointment at the UN Security Council.

(With agency inputs)