US is with Israel as Tel Aviv aims to destroy Hamas and recover hostages held in Gaza, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while pointing out that the allies differ about what might follow the Gaza war. Reiterating his past refusal on return of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas to Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Gaza “will be neither Hamas-stan nor ‘Fatah-stan'”. Fatah is Mahmoud Abbas’s faction.
“I would like to clarify my position: I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” he said. The 1993 Oslo Accords established limited Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza.
Following Israeli premier’s remarks, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein Al-Sheikh said, “Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement equating the Oslo Accords with what happened on Oct. 7 confirms his war against all Palestinians. We say to Netanyahu that Oslo died under the treads of his tanks, sweeping through our cities, villages, and camps from Jenin to Rafah.”
The Palestinian foreign minister also accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war condemning “international failure” to respect Palestinians’ rights at a UN meeting in Geneva. Israel has said that it allows aid into Gaza via the Rafah crossing and has signalled that the Kerem Shalom crossing could soon reopen.
“As we speak, at least 1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, half of them children, are starving, not because of a natural disaster or because of lack of generous assistance waiting at the border,” Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said, adding, “No, they are starving because of Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war against the people it occupied. Rather than insisting on respecting the Palestinian people’s basic right to eat and drink water, we are living through this dystopian reality that excludes Palestinians from the basic, most basic rights afforded to all human beings.”
Vikram Sharma is a globe-trotting journalist with a global perspective on international events. His articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing insights into the world’s most pressing challenges.
