Israel-Hamas war: Blinken to attend Gaza truce talks

There is still "no talk of a permanent cease-fire" between Israel and Hamas, Oliver McTernan, the director of the conflict resolution organization Forward Thinking, told DW on Sunday.

Referring to the negotiations last weekend in Paris between US, Egyptian, Qatari and Israeli officials, McTernan said the talks focused on the possibility of "short pauses" of up to two weeks, during which time more hostages still held in Gaza will be released.

He added that a large gap remained between the Israeli government and Hamas' military leadership.

"The Hamas leadership want a permanent cease-fire and then to negotiate on the principle all-for-all — all the hostages [in exchange] for all the Palestinian prisoners," he told DW. "[Israeli President Benjamin] Netanyahu is determined there won't be a permanent cease-fire and that he will not negotiate on that all-for-all principle."

"Even if the war were to stop tonight, the situation there has changed people's lives forever," he said.

"Priority must be given to protecting innocent human life [in Gaza]." 

Responding to the latest visit to the Middle East by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, McTernan said Washington has "enormous leverage if it will use it."

"But I think they're saying one thing publicly while at the same time supplying arms [...] and giving political protection to Netanyahu and his government to continue the war."

"I think he [Blinken] needs to say ... 'Enough is enough. We're providing you with no more arms or political protection. You've got to stop the fighting. You've got to stop the continual assault on the 2.3 million people in Gaza'," McTernan said.

Following a similar move by the United States, Canada has said it will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who incite violence in the occupied West Bank and introduce new sanctions on Hamas leaders.

"We're working actively on it,"  Melanie Joly told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, speaking from Ukraine.

"I'm making sure that while I'm in Ukraine, the work is being done in Ottawa and I look forward to doing an announcement soon."

On Thursday, the US sanctioned four Israeli men accused of being involved in violence in the occupied territory.

Since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want to claim as the core of an independent state.

Israel has built Jewish settlements in the West Bank, deemed by most countries to be illegal. Israel has disputed this classification, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

The West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades in the months before the Gaza conflict erupted in October. 

Confrontations there have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The latest airstrikes by the UK and the US against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen came after "repeated warnings," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Sunday.

The strikes late Saturday hit buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities the Houthis have used to attack Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said.

Confirming the strikes in a social media post on Sunday, Cameron stressed that the "Houthi attacks must stop," adding that "their reckless actions are putting innocent lives at risk, threatening the freedom of navigation and destabilizing the region."

Since November, the Houthis have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza. The attacks have forced shipping firms to redirect cargo vessels around southern Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, which takes longer and costs more in fuel.

Condemning the latest round of airstrikes, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned in a post on X, formerly Twitter: "These attacks will not deter us from our [...] stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," adding that they "will not pass without response and punishment."

Iran has also denounced the airstrikes, saying they "contradict" Washington's and London's declared intentions to avoid a "wider conflict" in the region.

Humanitarian issues in Gaza will be a top priority for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his trip to the Middle East, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

"The needs of the Palestinian people are something that are going to be front and center," Sullivan told the CBS program "Face the Nation."

Washington believes it is vital to secure a deal to release the remaining hostages Hamas took during its attack on Israel, including Americans, and an accompanying humanitarian pause, Sullivan added.

"This is in the national security interest of the United States. We are going to press for it relentlessly," Sullivan said. "So this is a paramount priority for us."

Blinken is en route to the Middle East on a trip that will include stops in Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his ministers "greatly appreciate" the support received from the United States since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October.

His comments came after fierce criticism of the Biden administration by a powerful far-right minister in the Israeli Cabinet, who said Washington has not fully backed Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"Instead of giving us his full backing, [US President Joe] Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel [to Gaza], which goes to Hamas," Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

"If [former US president Donald] Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different."

While appearing to distance himself from Ben-Gvir's comments, Netanyahu said he didn't "need help to know how to navigate our relations with the US and the international community, while standing firm on our national interests."

"We make our own decisions, even in those cases where there is no agreement with our American friends."

Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu's three-man War Cabinet, rebuked Ben-Gvir's comments, saying he was "causing tremendous damage" to American-Israeli relations. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, opposition leader Yair Lapid said Ben-Gvir's remarks prove that he "does not understand foreign relations" and that Netanyahu had lost control over extremists in his governing coalition.

The United States is the main international ally of Israel, providing billions of dollars each year in military support.

But in recent weeks it has insisted on greater protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip, as well as the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

Exiled Chinese artist Ai Weiwei criticized what he said was political censorship in the West, drawing a parallel between the current public discourse and Mao Zedong's China.

The artist spoke to British broadcaster Sky News about the cancellation of his exhibition in London last November following comments he made on social media regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a post that was later deleted, Ai argued that the "sense of guilt around the persecution of the Jewish people" had been transferred and used against the Arab world. He also said that the Jewish community had a significant influence in the media.

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Ai said the post was responding to a question on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Ai argued that talking, joking and giving opinions are normally accepted on social media, "today I see so many people by giving their basic opinions, they get fired, they get censored."

The artist, whose family was exiled from China when he was one year old, drew parallels between the situation in China then and the current situation in the West.

"I grew up within this heavy political censorship," he told Sky News. "I realize now, today in the West, you are doing exactly the same."

A 30-year-old German man has been hospitalized following a fight with a fellow university student over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Berlin's police has said.

The man was walking with a friend in Berlin's Mitte district on Saturday evening, when they encountered a 23-year-old student, according to the police.

An altercation developed between the two men, with the 23-year-old man punching the 30-year-old in the face, then kicking him as he lay on the ground. The younger man then fled the scene.

He was later found at his home address, the police said, adding that they "confiscated evidence" from his house, including his smartphone.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The 30-year-old was taken to hospital, where he suffered from fractures to the face, the authorities said. His life is not believed to be in danger.

Police said the older man is a Jew who is said to hold pro-Israeli views on social media. The younger man was described as holding pro-Palestinian views.

The ongoing conflict has left 127 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the strip's health authorities said.

Some 178 more were injured in the past 24 hours, added the health ministry, which is run by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

This brings the total number of those killed since October 7 to 27,365. Some 66,630 have also been wounded.

Israel, the US and the EU consider Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a terrorist group. 

The UN considers the casualty figures provided by the Hamas-run ministry to be mostly accurate. However, the ministry does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its statistics.

Despite ongoing efforts at cease-fire negotiations in Gaza, observers in the West are warning that the fighting could spread into other parts of the Middle East. Fears of a major regional conflict have grown as the US and the UK launched strikes against Iran-backed Houthis and other militant groups in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and three US soldiers were killed in Jordan.

In an editorial published on Sunday, prominent Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung warns that pressure appears to be rising every week. Commenting on the US strikes, the paper said US President Joe Biden wanted to demonstrate strength while avoiding a major war with Iran.

"But is it possible to stop the escalation? The Americans don't want it, presumably Iran doesn't want it either. But do these powers even still have it under control?" the paper questioned. "It is clear that the window is closing when it comes to finding a way out of the Gaza war. And that is fatal."

Meanwhile, the UK's Independent said that only way to permanently de-escalate tensions in the Middle East was "putting right the injustices suffered by the Palestinian people" by creating a Palestinian state. 

"President Biden has tried to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reverse his opposition to a two-state solution — so far to little effect," according to the British paper.

"Of course, mere recognition, without agreement with the Israeli government and without the institutional infrastructure of an independent state, would be purely symbolic. But unless international opinion is mobilized behind a settlement that could be accepted by the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, the dangers of escalating conflict across the region will continue for ever," the editorial reads.

An overnight airtstrike by Israel in Gaza killed at least 92 people, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said early Sunday. 

The ministry said the attack targeted a kindergarten in Rafah where displaced Gaza residents were taking shelter.

Many in Rafah fear that Israel will deploy troops in the southern border city.

Many displaced Palestinians moved to the south of the Gaza strip after Israel told them it is a safe zone, though bombardments have continued there as well.

"The children were just sleeping and suddenly the bombardment happened. The bedroom fell on my children. God took one of my children and three escaped death," civilian Ahmad Bassam al-Jamal told the AFP news agency.

Rafah had a population of 200,000 before the current war, but now more than half of Gaza's 2.1 million residents are taking refuge in the city, the United Nations said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Thursday that the IDF — which began its ground invasion in northern Gaza and has gradually advanced towards the south — "will also reach Rafah."

The strikes on Saturday came after Hamas asked for more time to consider the cease-fire proposal. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US, the EU, Germany and several other governments.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit the Middle East to attend the negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza. 

On his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war in Gaza, he will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank, the secretary's spokesman, Matthew Miller, said on Friday. 

Intermediaries have shown optimism regarding a truce deal between Israel and Hamas. Blinken is expected to push for an agreement.

His five-day trip, set to start on Sunday, comes a few days after the US struck Iran-linked bases in Iraq and Syria.

The retaliatory strikes by the US came after pro-Iranian groups targeted US bases in Jordan, killing three soldiers.

In addition to a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, Blinken will also continue diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict from spreading, Miller said. Hamas is designated as a terror group by the UN, the EU, the US, Germany and many others.

Blinken aims to continue dialogue leading towards a lasting solution which would assure the security of Palestinians and Israelis, his spokesman said.

mfi/dj (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)