United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.
“It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza,” that was necessary “to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause,” Mr Guterres said in Japan where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza’s biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel currently holds about 75% of Gaza.
Israel’s military spokesman said Brigadier General Effie Defrin has said troops were already operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, and Hamas was now a “battered and bruised” guerrilla force.
“We will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organisation,” he said.
Mr Guterres called for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas. He also urged Israel to reverse a decision to expand “illegal” settlement construction in the West Bank.
The Israeli settlement plan, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week and received the final go-ahead from a Defence Ministry planning commission yesterday.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the construction would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.
The former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council said the plans to fully occupy Gaza City are “highly controversial”, both in Israel and abroad.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Eran Etzion said: “It is controversial amongst the Israeli public, it is controversial between the political echelon and the highest military command, including the chief of staff – who, at some point reportedly around the cabinet table called it a death trap for Israeli soldiers entering Gaza.
“And obviously it is highly controversial abroad.”
Mr Etzion said Mr Netanyahu is pushing ahead with the plan because, he said, he has a “very clear agenda of perpetuating the war, taking control of the entire Gaza Strip, and evacuating its population – at least in the long run.”
He said there are “multiple problems” with the plan, on “every level,” diplomatic, strategic, military, economic.
But, he said, that “most of all,” more and more Israelis have now understood that it is not about Israel’s national interest, rather it is about Mr Netanyahu’s personal interest and a “messianic agenda of the very, very, deep extreme right in the Israeli government, which is a minority in Israel.”
The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing some1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 60,000 people, according to territory’s health ministry.
Separately, the Israeli military said it has received a report about a security incident near the settlement of Malachei HaShalom in the West Bank, adding that details are under review.
