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US president reiterates dedication to political resolution as Israeli troops proceed raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.
US President Joe Biden has stated he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that occupying Gaza could be “a giant mistake” and that the two-state resolution was the one technique to deliver an finish to the Israel-Palestinian battle.
“I made it clear to the Israelis I believe it’s a giant mistake for them to suppose they’re going to occupy Gaza and keep Gaza,” Biden instructed a information convention in San Francisco. “I don’t suppose that works.”
Netanyahu stated earlier this month that after the struggle Gaza must be “demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt” and that Israel would wish to discover a “civilian authorities” to control the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2006.
The Israeli chief stated there was no plan to “occupy” Gaza though many take into account it an occupied territory already as a result of Israel has full management of its borders, airspace and territorial waters regardless of having formally withdrawn its forces and settlers in 2005.
Talking because the Israeli army continued its raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Biden stated he had additionally mentioned with Israeli leaders the necessity to “be extremely cautious” in its actions on the hospital, below which Israel says the Palestinian armed group Hamas had constructed its army headquarters.
Hospital officers and Hamas, which controls Gaza, deny the declare.
Greater than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started bombarding the besieged enclave on October 7 after Hamas launched a shock assault on Israel killing about 1,200 folks and taking greater than 200 captive.
Biden, who was chatting with the media after a four-hour summit with Chinese language chief Xi Jinping, insisted the one technique to finish the bloodshed was the “two-state resolution”, with Israel and Palestinians dwelling aspect by aspect.
Whereas urging warning at al-Shifa, Biden repeated Israeli claims concerning the army headquarters and stated Hamas was committing struggle crimes by housing such a facility beneath a hospital.
The raid on the hospital has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Financial institution and is a rival to Hamas.
Underneath worldwide humanitarian legislation, hospitals can lose their protected standing if used for army functions. However civilians should even be given ample time to flee, and any assault have to be proportional to the army goal — placing the burden on Israel to point out the hospital was a large enough army goal to justify the siege towards it.
Biden stated Israel had gone into al-Shifa, with a restricted variety of troops with weapons, and that Israel had an obligation to make use of as a lot warning as doable in going after targets.
Israel has stated it isn’t solely in search of Hamas fighters but in addition the captives, together with a three-year-old US citizen, who’ve been held in Gaza for greater than a month.
Netanyahu, who has led Israel on and off for 16 years and is going through corruption expenses, is below intense home strain to account for political and safety failings which will have led to the Hamas assault, the worst within the nation’s historical past.
Protesters have taken to the streets demanding extra be accomplished to safe their launch.
Biden stated he was “mildly hopeful” there could be a deal to free them.
“I don’t need to get forward of myself right here as a result of I don’t know what’s occurred within the final 4 hours, however we now have gotten nice cooperation from the Qataris,” he stated when requested about progress.
Qatar, the place Hamas operates a political workplace, has been main mediation between the group and Israeli officers.
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