International diplomacy was activated Thursday, May 20 on the ground and behind the scenes to try to put an end to the murderous military escalation between Israel and Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, this Palestinian micro-territory of two million d ‘inhabitants under Israeli blockade, after numerous bombings.
The UN General Assembly, which met at 4 p.m. at the ministerial level, qualified by the voice of its secretary general, Antonio Guterres, of“Unacceptable” continued Israeli and Palestinian fire. The Israeli security cabinet, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s main security officials will participate, is meeting in the evening to discuss a possible ceasefire, as indicated by official sources.
After a few hours of respite in the Gaza Strip, strikes intensified in the afternoon, sending clouds of smoke and debris into the sky as ambulances raced through the enclave, reporters say from Agence France-Presse. Five people were killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, bringing to 232 the number of Palestinians who have died in the enclave since the conflict began on May 10.
At the end of the afternoon, a new rocket barrage had targeted southern Israel, prompting residents to take refuge in bomb shelters.
UN General Assembly Meeting
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said before the General Assembly of the organization that “The clashes had to end immediately”. “I am deeply shocked by the continuous aerial bombardment and artillery fire carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza.”said Mr. Guterres, in which around 60 children perished. “Continued indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas and other militant groups at population centers in Israel”, which killed a dozen, including two children, “Is also unacceptable”, added Mr. Guterres. “If there is hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza”, he estimated.
During the debate, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Gilad Erdan both accused Israel’s defense forces and Hamas of engaging in a “Genocide” against their own people. “In today’s debate, we do not see a defense of the goals set for the UN, but rather an indifference to the charter of Hamas, which, like the Nazis, is engaged in the genocide of the Jewish people”, underlined the Israeli diplomat. “How can some rush to make statements condemning the murder of a Palestinian at a time when the whole world remains silent and turns a blind eye to the genocide of entire Palestinian families? “, had previously questioned the Palestinian minister.
“It is imperative to achieve de-escalation in order to avoid an uncontrollable cross-border security and humanitarian crisis”, added the UN secretary general. “We must work for a resumption of negotiations” to end up with “A two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines [avec Jérusalem pour capitale des deux pays] “, said Mr. Guterres.
After the call of the American president, Joe Biden, in favor of a ” de-escalation “ immediate in these clashes which left at least 240 dead in ten days (the vast majority of Palestinians) and the refusal of Washington to support a resolution of France at the UN, the head of German diplomacy, Heiko Maas, arrived in the morning in Tel Aviv. Mr. Maas argued that the Israeli strikes in Gaza fell within the “Right to self-defense”, while calling for a rapid cessation of hostilities. He was expected in the evening in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a telephone interview on Thursday they supported efforts for a “Rapid cease-fire” in the clashes in the Middle East. ” Chancellor, [Angela] Merkel, and the president, [Mahmoud] Abbas, agreed that initiatives for an early ceasefire should continue to be supported. The Chancellor stressed Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks fired from the Gaza Strip ”Chancellor spokesperson Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
Intense talks are also being led by Egypt, a country bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, in order to put back on track the fragile truce that had been in effect in recent years.
“We expect a return to calm in the next few hours, or tomorrow [vendredi], but it depends on the end of the aggression of the occupying forces in Gaza and Jerusalem ”, said a senior Hamas official. “But there is nothing definitive for the moment”, added this source, indicating moreover that Qatar, emirate financing the assistance brought to Gaza and in which lives the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was at the heart “Intense” negotiations. The UN envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, was in Qatar, where he is to meet Ismail Haniyeh, diplomatic sources said.
Special meeting of the Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council will meet next week in extraordinary session, the United Nations announced Thursday. The meeting, scheduled for May 27, is being organized at the request of Pakistan (in its capacity as coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation) and the Palestinian authorities, who have gathered enough signatures from the 47 member countries of the Council, a indicated the UN in a brief statement. At this meeting, countries will review the “Serious human rights situation” in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in East Jerusalem, it was specified.
In a series of tweets, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Shahar, denounced a summons that “Testifies to the clearly anti-Israel agenda of this body” and called on member states to oppose the meeting. “Those who support this meeting are only rewarding the actions of Hamas, a terrorist organization”, she accused.
This cycle of violence between Israel and Gaza was sparked after Hamas fired a volley of rockets into the Hebrew state on May 10, in solidarity with the hundreds of Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli police on the Israeli plaza. Mosques, Jerusalem’s third holiest site, in the Palestinian sector of Jerusalem occupied by Israel for more than fifty years. Since the clashes began on May 10, more than 230 Palestinians, including some 60 children and Hamas fighters, have died in the Israeli strikes, while 12 people have lost their lives in Israel, the Palestinian movements of Gaza. firing more than 4,000 rockets into Israeli territory.
