GAZA STRIP, (Palestinian Territories): Israel battled into the fifth week Saturday of its war to crush Hamas, showing no signs of letting up even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with Arab foreign ministers.
Blinken reaffirmed US support for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting in Gaza to ensure desperate civilians get help a day after Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the idea short shrift.
Speaking at a news conference in Amman about sparing civilians and speeding up aid deliveries, the US top diplomat said: “The United States believes that all of these efforts will be facilitated by humanitarian pauses.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for all sides to work together to “stop a catastrophe that will haunt the region for generations”. The Israeli army said its troops had launched an operation in southern Gaza overnight, after deadly strikes hit an ambulance convoy and a school-turned-refugee shelter in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Israeli forces have encircled Gaza’s largest city, trying to crush Hamas in retaliation for October 7 raids into Israel that officials say killed around 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
The Israeli military said it had come under attack several times from Hamas “tunnel shafts and military compounds” in northern Gaza and had killed many “terrorists” and destroyed three observation posts. Hamas said it had hit an Israeli convoy with mortar fire.
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