2023-11-28T14:08:07+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ A senior White House official said that the United States urged Israel to follow a “different strategy” in the southern Gaza Strip, when military operations resume again.
The American official, who did not reveal his identity, added, according to Al-Hurra, that “Washington called for concentrating military operations in limited locations to ensure the protection of civilians,” stressing that Israel “accepted the American proposals.”
He pointed out that this strategy is different from the idea of safe zones proposed by Israel, stressing that the United States “opposes any military operations that cause the displacement of Palestinians from the southern Gaza Strip.”
This comes at a time when the truce between Israel and Hamas was extended on Tuesday, to allow the release of more Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation remains “catastrophic.”
The American official said that the United States “will focus in the next phase on ensuring an increase in the flow of urgent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including the delivery of basic goods.”
Regarding calls from American lawmakers to open the Kerem Shalom crossing, the American official ruled out that Israel would open this crossing to bring humanitarian aid into the Palestinian Strip.
The truce agreement entered into force on Friday after Qatari mediation with the support of Egypt and the United States, and has so far allowed the release of 50 hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip and 150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
19 other hostages, the majority of whom were foreign workers, were also released, but outside the framework of the agreement. The mediators and the United States are active behind the scenes to extend the truce beyond Thursday, to increase the number of people released and the aid entering the Gaza Strip.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will head again to Israel and the West Bank by the end of this week, to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
A high-ranking American official told Agence France-Presse that Blinken will also stress “the necessity of establishing an independent Palestinian state,” considering that this is the only solution in the long term. It will also address efforts to “contain the conflict.”