Netanyahu does ‘not know’ how long Gaza ceasefire will last: Report
More details are emerging from an Israeli cabinet meeting today over the future of Gaza, a day before the UN Security Council is slated to vote on a draft plan for the besieged enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet he “did not know” how long the Gaza ceasefire would hold, according to The Jerusalem Post. He emphasised to ministers that Israel is “working to conclude Phase A” and that Israel is still expecting the remains of three captives to be returned by Hamas.
“We did not go to war only to free hostages,” National Missions Minister Orit Strock reportedly shot back. The prime minister went on to say that foreign forces are “reluctant” to enter Gaza, the paper reported.
Although the Gaza stabilisation force could theoretically include up to 20,000 troops, it is not yet clear which countries may commit to sending them, and Israel has roundly rejected the possibility of Turkish participation.
Netanyahu demurred when asked about the timing of the stabilisation effort. “We cannot ignore our managing of a seven-front war … the amount of time left cannot be quantified,” he said.
Israel pushes US to close door on Palestinian statehood before UNSC vote
Israel is engaged in a last-ditch bid to change the wording of a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the next phase of United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan that was recently amended to mention a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday that his opposition to a Palestinian state had “not changed one bit”, one day before the UNSC votes on the US-drafted resolution, which would mandate a transitional administration and an international stabilisation force (ISF) in Gaza.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Netanyahu’s government was engaged in a last-minute diplomatic push to alter the draft resolution, which the US had changed to include more defined language about Palestinian self-determination under pressure from Arab and Muslim countries expected to contribute troops to the ISF.
The draft now says that “conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” after reforms to the Palestinian Authority are “faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced”.
Netanyahu will do everything to prevent both a Palestinian state and to prevent giving over control of Gaza.
Meanwhile pushing out Palestinians, dumping them anywhere in the world for a fee
Haaretz investigation uncovers Al-Majd Europe’s role in facilitating Gaza families’ exit
The Haaretz investigation reveals that Al-Majd Europe is a phoney company; the address it provides in occupied East Jerusalem is false; It doesn’t have registration in Germany, as it claimed; and its connection to another, shady individual, a dual Estonian-Israeli citizen Tomer Janar Lind.
This man is linked to several phoney companies, some listed in London, Dubai and so on, all having the wrong number or no registration.
Now, this man spoke to Haaretz, and he confirmed that he is facilitating the one-way exit of families out of Gaza in coordination with the Israeli army. But he declined to give out more information. Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli army has established a department run by the vice director-general of the Ministry of Defence in charge of so-called voluntary migration of Palestinians out of Gaza, and what that unit does is facilitate the exit of any Palestinian who wishes to leave the Strip.
As far as they’re concerned, that means they will not return. This is, of course, not the intended target of Palestinians wishing to leave for education, for medical treatment, or like those families who ended up in Johannesburg. They had no idea where they were going to be. They just wanted to be out of Gaza, some of them having visas to other third countries.
