Hamas willing to lay down arms if two-state solution implemented: Report
A top Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, has said the group was willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and transform into a political party if a two-state solution is implemented, The Associated Press news agency has reported.
Al-Hayya, who made his comments in an interview with the AP in Istanbul, said Hamas wants to participate in the formation of a unified government for Gaza and the West Bank.
“All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army,” he said.
Al-Hayya also said Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah would not succeed in destroying Hamas. Israeli forces “have not destroyed more than 20 percent of [Hamas’s] capabilities, neither human nor in the field,” he said.
“If they can’t finish [Hamas] off, what is the solution? The solution is to go to consensus,” he added.
President Biden: ‘The security of Israel is critical’
President Joe Biden says he authorised “vital support for Israel” after signing the $95.3bn aid bill for US allies. The legislation provides Israel’s military with about $15bn as it continues to attack Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have been killed in the past six months – mostly children and women.
“The security of Israel is critical. I will always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports,” said Biden. The military assistance comes as Israel threatens a ground invasion of southern Rafah city, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering.
Oh still sticking to the self-defense story?
More empty words from Washington
US demands ‘thorough and transparent’ mass grave investigation
The White House says it wants “answers” from Israeli authorities after the discovery of mass graves at Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.
More than 300 bodies of people – allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis – have so far been recovered. Other graves at al-Shifa Hospital in northern were also located.
“We want answers. We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Israeli army spokesman Major Nadav Shoshani said the graves at Nasser were “dug by Gazans a few months ago”.
Hospitals, which have protection under international law, have repeatedly come under Israeli bombardment during more than six months of war in Gaza.
They just don't want an independent investigation, only asking for more Hasbara from Israel that they can repeat in the media. Bodies with their hands and feet zip tied have been found as well as bodies with IVs still attached. Bodies buried under piles of rubble. There is no way Gazans could even do that without bulldozers. And there are over 300 bodies...
Grim mass grave search continues at Nasser Hospital
It’s the sixth day in a row where medics and civil defence workers are still recovering bodies from this mass grave – bodies of children, women, the elderly. Bodies of patients with bandages and catheters attached.
Survivors have described the horrors of the Israeli raid on the hospital with people dragged outside and executed. When we visited the mass graves we saw family members searching for missing loved ones. Some identified relatives from the clothes they were wearing because the bodies were too badly decomposed.
This is not the first time a mass grave has been discovered, with another at al-Shifa Hospital with about 400 people reportedly killed and buried there.
There will be a press conference shortly by civil defence paramedics who will present evidence they’ve collected.
