Gaza proves global system ‘incapable of resolving issues’: Iran’s foreign minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the crisis in Gaza has once again demonstrated that “the pillars of the international system are incapable of resolving such issues”.
It also showed “that the fate of the [Middle East] region cannot and should not remain at the mercy of extra-regional powers”, he said during a speech at the Tehran Dialogue Forum.
“What is currently presented by these powers as the ‘regional reality’ is, in fact, a reflection of deeply constructed narratives and interpretations, shaped solely based on their own interests,” Iran’s top diplomat said.
He said these narratives must be redefined and corrected from within the region itself. “West Asia is in dire need of a fundamental reassessment of how it views itself,” Araghchi said.
Israel says truce should include Hamas exile, Gaza disarmament
Netanyahu has signalled that Israel is open to a deal with Hamas that would include “ending the fighting” in Gaza, laying out conditions for such an agreement.
The prime minister’s office said in a statement that the Israeli team in Qatar is working on different possibilities, including US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a short-term ceasefire with some captive-prisoner exchange, or ending the war through a full agreement.
“Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal – whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting, which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement.
The statement added that a ceasefire deal should include Hamas’s exile from the enclave and Gaza’s disarmament.
Netanyahu ‘taking impunity for a test ride’ every time Israel doubles down
Daniel Levy, a Middle East analyst and the president of the US Middle East Project, has commented on the reports and images coming out of Gaza today, including attacks on hospitals and the killing of more than 100 Palestinians.
“Where is humanity? Where is leadership? Is this a post-shame world, and how do we not slip into anger and rage that cannot be channelled?” he told Al Jazeera.
“We can ask these questions, but we know the answers. Israel has been clear in what it’s doing, and this is being documented in real time by medical workers, by journalists,” Levy said.
“It has been repeated by the Israeli leadership itself so many times: to use starvation, to make Gaza unliveable, to ethnically cleanse Gaza,” he argued, adding that this will carry on unless Israel is held accountable.
“The only way you change that equation is if Prime Minister Netanyahu, next time he goes out to test the water, he puts his finger in the air and says, ‘Is the impunity still in place?’ because every time Israel is doubling down on their actions.
“That’s what he does – he takes impunity for a test drive, and he sees that the results come back as ‘Yes, impunity is still in place.’ Maybe there’s a rhetoric, maybe the Arab League summit says this or that, but in practice, Israel can get away with it. That’s what has to change.”
Levy added: “What will change this equation isn’t what more horrors they can visit upon the Palestinian population, but what may eventually change this equation is whether they are shown the stop sign.”
