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Netanyahu tells Blinken Israel will go into Rafah alone if necessary
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is determined to send troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, and would do so without US backing, if necessary.
Netanyahu said in a statement he told visiting US Secretary of State Blinken there is no way to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah. “And I told him I hope we will do it with the support of the US. But if we have to – we will do it alone,” he said.
Blinken: ‘We’re determined that Israel succeed in defending itself’
The US secretary of state says in Tel Aviv he told Israeli leaders the plan to attack Rafah, where 1.5 million people are trapped, isn’t feasible.
“A major military ground operation is not the way to do it. It risks killing many more civilians, it risks wreaking greater havoc on the provision of humanitarian assistance, it risks further isolation of Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing,” Blinken told reporters at the airport.
“We’re looking forward to seeing Israeli officials in Washington next week to go through the details and the best way forward. We’re determined that Israel succeed in defending itself and becomes integrated into the region secure and safe.”
‘You’re going to be stuck in Gaza,’ Blinken tells Netanyahu
The top US diplomat told Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet if they continue on their current path, Hamas will remain in control of Gaza and Israeli interests will be harmed, a news report says.
If Israel doesn’t take a different course, the future of Gaza could include perpetual occupation and resistance from Palestinian fighters, an unnamed source informed about the meeting was quoted by US news outlet Axios as saying.
“You need a coherent plan or either you’re going to be stuck in Gaza,” Blinken reportedly said, reiterating US opposition to a looming invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. He warned Netanyahu “you might not realise it until it’s too late”, and said Israel’s security and its global standing is in peril.
Palestinian ministry slams Israel over new settlement plan
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Israel’s claim to 8,000 dunams (1,977 acres, 800 hectares) of land in the Jordan Valley is a “crime” that is part of an “official policy racing against time to annex the West Bank and eliminate the possibility of creating a Palestinian state”.
“There are no morals, values, principles or international resolutions that can stop the extremist right,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added that the plan by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to develop hundreds of housing units near the Israeli settlement of Yafit was once again an indication that Israel “denies the existence of our people and incites their extermination and displacement”.
“Israel’s continued impunity provides the fascists with the necessary time to complete the slaughter and extermination of our people, the theft of their homeland and their displacement from it,” it said, adding that international complicity with Israel’s crimes was “the crime of the century.”
West Bank land seizure largest since Oslo accords: Watchdog
Earlier, the Israeli government announced it’s confiscating 800 hectares (1,980 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the seizure is the single largest since the 1993 Oslo Accords, and “2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land”.
Peace Now called the timing of the announcement a “provocation” as it came during a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been critical of settlement expansion by the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Spain, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia agree to recognise Palestinian state
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he expects his country’s recognition of Palestine to happen during the current four-year legislature that began last year. He told reporters an agreement was reached after meeting with his Irish, Maltese and Slovenian counterparts on the sidelines of a European Council gathering on Friday.
“We are agreed the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region is through implementation of a two-state solution, with Israeli and Palestinian states living side-by-side, in peace and security,” said a statement by Ireland after the meeting.
Arab states and the European Union agreed at a meeting in Spain in November that an independent Palestinian state is the only answer to the Middle East conflict.
That brings the total to 142 (plus one observer state) of 193 UN members.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-recognize-palestine
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