Main events on March 25th
- Israel’s military has killed at least 37 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn on Tuesday, medics say, as the Israeli defence minister threatens to take more territory in the enclave if the remaining captives are not freed.
- Save the Children, a rights group, says Israel has killed more than 270 Palestinian children in Gaza since resuming its war on the Strip last week.
- Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal has been released from Israeli detention a day after his arrest following an attack by settlers in the occupied West Bank.
- Dozens of rights groups in the United States have called on senators to block the nomination of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, calling him “unfit to serve”.
- Israel’s military continues bombing Syria, killing at least six people in the southern province of Deraa, and drawing condemnation from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
- US forces continue attacks on Yemen, hitting the northern province of Saada again, over Houthi threats to resume raids on Red Sea shipping.
Hamas says it wants to stop the war
Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, says that the group is “keen to stop the war and the bloodshed”.
In a statement on Telegram, Badran said Israel “did not respect” the ceasefire agreement and instead “continued its war and aggression”.
He added that “Netanyahu refuses to negotiate” and criticised the US, saying that “the American side is not a mediator, but biased and supportive of the [Israeli] occupation”.
Israel’s approval of new budget could move truce talks forward
Israel has passed a new budget into law, despite widespread protests trying to stop it. And now, Israeli media is reporting that Israel is ready to accept the US’s bridge proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza if Hamas agrees to it.
The proposal would resume the ceasefire for weeks and allow humanitarian assistance back into Gaza, as well as the release of five Israeli captives, the bodies of several others killed in captivity and Palestinian prisoners.
But it would not end the war.
Negotiations on this proposal were under way when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, killing more than 700 Palestinians in predawn strikes over a week ago, including more than 200 children.
The onslaught allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consolidate his coalition and secure this unprecedented budget – that slashes wages and social services and raises taxes to fund the Israeli government’s multi-frontal wars with $30bn.
Protests lasted all day, with Knesset members partaking during the vote. Some held up signs reading 59, a reference to the number of Israeli captives still in Gaza.
Coalition leaders, unfazed, called the protesters a handful of anarchists. The far-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called the budget one of “war”, saying, “With God’s help, it will be a budget of victory.”
Israel’s announcement on the ceasefire efforts was timed perfectly for Netanyahu – his rule is safe, for now, and the protests could be defused. In Gaza, this news brings hope to Palestinians that the carnage will stop and that starvation is averted.
Bombing 2 million people while starving them and denying any aid, all to get a budget approved...
