2023-10-16 01:44:33
The Gaza Strip was “running out of water, electricity and other essential supplies,” Guterres said. The UN has stockpiles of food, water, medical supplies and fuel in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel that could be sent “within hours.” However, UN personnel must “be able” to bring these supplies safely and without disruption to the Gaza Strip and distribute them throughout the Palestinian territory.
The radical Islamic group Hamas called on Guterres to release all hostages “immediately” and “without conditions.” Each of these two goals – the release of the hostages and the delivery of aid – stands on its own and should not be misused as a “bargaining tool,” emphasized the UN Secretary General. He believes it is his duty to fight for both goals “at this dramatic moment” when “we are on the brink of the abyss in the Middle East.”
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The Palestinian organization Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, launched a major attack on Israel on October 7th. It fired thousands of rockets and invaded Israel with hundreds of fighters. Hamas fighters carried out bloodbaths in several towns in southern Israel and kidnapped people into the Gaza Strip, including several Germans.
In response, the Israeli army put the Gaza Strip under constant fire and completely sealed off the Palestinian territory. The delivery of fuel, food and drinking water was stopped. According to Israeli sources, water supplies were restored in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Israel also called on residents in the north of the Gaza Strip to flee to the southern part of the coastal strip. The Israeli army says it is preparing for a ground offensive in the Palestinian territory.
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All developments in the live ticker:
4:40 a.m. – US President Biden is apparently considering a visit to Israel
According to US media, US President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days. This was reported by US media such as the Axios portal on Sunday evening (local time), citing sources in the Israeli and American governments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Biden to Israel during a phone call on Saturday. The final decision about a trip has not yet been made, it said.
Biden sent his Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel and other countries in the region last week after the attacks by the Islamist Hamas terrorists. Blinken wanted to attend appointments in Israel again this Monday. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was also in Israel for talks on Friday.
3:30 a.m. – Foreign Minister Baerbock: Still no contact with Germans kidnapped by Hamas
According to Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), the federal government still has no contact with German Hamas hostages in the Gaza Strip. The topic was the focus of her visits to Israel and Egypt as well as the recent visit of the Emir of Qatar to Berlin, said Baerbock in an interview on the ARD program “Anne Will” on Sunday evening.
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Regarding a possible mediating role for Egypt and Turkey in the freeing of the hostages, the minister said that Qatar and Turkey in particular had “channels to talk to Hamas.” The federal government has therefore “strongly” appealed to these states to “activate these channels now”.
During the talks, the government also made it clear once again that this was “about German hostages” and provided corresponding photos. “We’re trying to do that on all channels,” said Baerbock. A special team at the Foreign Office is dedicated to this issue “around the clock”.
02:10 a.m. – Biden does not believe it is necessary to send US troops
According to US President Joe Biden, sending US troops to Israel is not necessary. Israel has “one of the best fighting forces,” Biden said in a television interview with “60 Minutes.” But it would be a mistake if Israel occupied the Gaza Strip. While he believes that Hamas must be completely eliminated, there must also be a path to the formation of a Palestinian state. Biden is confident that Israel will abide by the rules of war.
01:13 a.m. – Nazi comparison by Colombia’s president: Israel draws conclusions
After Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s strong criticism of the Israeli army’s counterattacks in the Gaza Strip, Israel wants to stop its exports to Colombia in the security sector. This was Israel’s first step in response to Petro’s comments, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lior Haiat, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. Petro then suggested breaking off relations between the two states. “If we have to cut off foreign relations with Israel, we will cut them off,” he wrote.
Previously, Petro had repeatedly condemned the Israeli counterattacks in the Gaza Strip following the attacks in Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. The left-wing politician compared the actions of the Israeli army with the crimes of the German National Socialists and the Gaza Strip with the Auschwitz extermination camp and the Warsaw Ghetto.
01:04: Anti-Semitism Commissioner calls for the incitement of hatred law to be tightened
The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, is pushing for criminal law to be tightened in order to be able to take more effective action against hatred and incitement. “Against the background of the reactions in Germany to the terror of Hamas in Israel, the police and judiciary must be put in an even better position to get threats from the Islamist environment under control,” Klein told the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe”.
He therefore considers a change to the incitement paragraph in the criminal code necessary. In practice there are often difficulties in application. In the future, the paragraph should be applied without the need to establish that the inciting act has disturbed the public peace, as was the case previously. “This clarifying legal change should be made promptly so that we as a state can clearly show red lines – against any form of hatred and agitation on our streets.”
12:22 a.m. – Man in US is accused of killing boy because of hatred of Muslims
A man in the USA is said to have killed a six-year-old boy because of his Muslim faith. The 71-year-old stabbed the boy 26 times with the knife and seriously injured the mother, local police said on Sunday. According to the police, the act was said to have been a reaction to the war between the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas and Israel. The incident occurred on Saturday in Plainfield, a suburb of Chicago. The man should now be charged with hate crimes, among other things.
The suspect has not provided any information about his involvement in this “heinous attack,” police said. “Investigators were able to determine that both victims of this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because they are Muslims and because of the ongoing Middle East conflict between Hamas and the Israelis.” Police did not provide any further information on how they came to this conclusion has arrived.
Ahmed Rehab of the Muslim organization Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago said the suspect was the landlord of the two victims and knocked on the apartment door. The mother then opened it. Rehab quoted text messages that the mother is said to have sent to the boy’s father. Accordingly, the suspect is said to have shouted “You Muslims must die!” The mother ran into the bathroom to call the police, they said. The suspect is said to have killed the boy in the meantime.
12:06 a.m. – Abbas: Hamas actions do not represent all Palestinians
According to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the actions and policies of the Islamist Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip do not represent the Palestinian people. He rejects the killing of civilians on both sides, emphasized Abbas, who heads the car authority in the West Bank, on Sunday in a telephone conversation with Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. He called on everyone involved to release prisoners.
Abbas also spoke out in favor of peaceful resistance to end the occupation of Israel. At the same time, he emphasized, the “Israeli aggression” against the Palestinian people must be stopped.
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A week ago on Saturday, hundreds of terrorists crossed the border into Israel in a surprise attack on behalf of Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, and caused a bloodbath there. Since then, Israel has been attacking targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian President Abbas leads the Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Fatah and Hamas – the largest Palestinian organizations – have been bitter rivals in recent years. The radical Islamic Hamas drove Fatah out of the Gaza Strip in bloody power struggles in 2007. Since then, Abba’s influence there has been considered low.
There have been reconciliation talks between the two groups for several years. In his phone call with Maduro, Abbas emphasized that the PLO is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
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