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Israel is ‘going ahead with plan to depopulate Gaza’
Israel’s loudspeakers surrounding Gaza and broadcasting Netanyahu’s speech were meant for the captives. But for Palestinians trapped in Gaza City, Israel’s bombs did not stop falling.
During the speech, there were multiple blasts going off that could be heard from where we’re reporting. That’s about 15km (seven miles) away. There’s dark smoke rising into the sky.
About a quarter into it, Palestinians gave up listening to Netanyahu’s speech because he did not address what they wanted to hear on this genocide. He did not mention the ongoing mass displacement, forced dehydration and starvation, and the bombardment and destruction of an entire city.
This speech was widely perceived as a justification for Israel’s genocidal acts on the ground, or promoting for further such acts in the coming days as the Israeli military pushes deeper into and encircles Gaza City.
They’re going ahead with the plan to depopulate Gaza.
Israeli attacks across Gaza kill 58 since dawn
That’s according to medical sources at hospitals in Gaza who have spoken to Al Jazeera. Among those killed are 30 people in Gaza City alone, where Israeli forces have stepped up a brutal assault. Another 12 are hungry aid seekers who were attempting to obtain meagre food parcels in central and southern Gaza, the sources said.
Former senior UN official points out juxtaposition of Netanyahu speech and Trump’s optimism on deal
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Martin Griffiths, the former UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that Netanyahu’s focus on fighting in Gaza did not fit in with US President Trump’s apparent optimism that a deal to end the war was close.
‘Benjamin Netanyahu has one virtue … and that is he tells us exactly what he thinks … [his speech] didn’t give any hope, any indication of a deal,” said Griffiths, who now heads Mediation Group International. “On the contrary, it laid out all the conditions for a continuing war.”
“Now, either Mr Trump wasn’t listening to that speech, or he hadn’t been informed in advance … but he seemed to be picking up what [US special envoy] Steve Witkoff said the other day about ‘we are close to a deal’.”
“So I don’t know what that means, I hope that we’ll find out on Monday when Prime Minister Netanyahu is in Washington,” Griffiths added. “But for today, whether he says that or not in the White House, we have a classic example of Israeli intransigence. It’s an affront, that speech. It’s an affront to the international conscience … and it’s a death sentence for the people of Palestine."
