Hamas says Netanyahu fabricating ‘flimsy pretexts’ to evade ceasefire commitments
The Palestinian group says the Israeli prime minister’s decision to refuse to open the Rafah crossing “constitutes a blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement and a “denial” of the commitments he made with the mediators.
In a statement, Hamas said the continued closure of the crossing, including preventing those who are wounded from leaving, the entry of machinery and specialised teams to find captive bodies would lead to “delays in the retrieval and return of bodies”.
“The war criminal Netanyahu continues to fabricate flimsy pretexts to disrupt the agreement and evade his obligations,” Hamas said.
“We call on the mediators and guarantors of the agreement to take urgent action to pressure the occupation to open the Rafah crossing immediately, oblige it to abide by all the terms of the agreement, and stop its ongoing crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian group added.
‘Stop using American taxpayer dollars to sabotage ceasefire’: CAIR
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on US President Trump to exert pressure on Israel to abide by the Gaza ceasefire agreement as it condemned yesterday’s deadly Israeli attack on a Palestinian family in Gaza City.
“The Trump administration must demand that Netanyahu stop using American taxpayer dollars and American weapons to sabotage the ceasefire agreement that America brokered so that he can restart the genocide in Gaza,” CAIR said in a statement.
The group also urged the US State Department and the UN to investigate “horrific signs of torture and extrajudicial killing” on the bodies of slain Palestinian prisoners that were returned to Gaza over the past days.
“Torturing people to death after kidnapping them and holding them without charge is another example of not only international law, but also US law related to foreign aid recipients,” CAIR said.
The US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid throughout the country’s war on Gaza. While US law prohibits military assistance to foreign militaries engaged in gross violations of human rights, Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have refused to apply those rules to Israel.
Progressive Jewish activists call for an arms embargo on Israel during a protest on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 23, 2024
Palestinian official calls for international force to protect people in Gaza
Rawhi Fattouh, the president of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s legislative body, has urged the international community to deploy international forces in Gaza to protect Palestinians.
Fattouh denounced the recent deadly Israeli attack in Gaza City that killed 11 members of a single family as “part of Israel’s ongoing policy of killing and destruction”.
“This crime is not an isolated act but part of a continuous pattern of killing and destruction amid clear international inaction to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Fattouh said.
He said the Israeli government is “fully responsible for this war crime against humanity” and called on the international community to “take immediate measures to deploy international forces to provide protection to the Palestinian people”.
