Roving Periscope: After Biden fails, British PM Sunak tries to contain Hamas conflgration in Arab world
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After the hospital blast this week, which allegedly killed some 500 people in Gaza and enraged the Muslims the world over, the Palestinians claimed on Friday that several people died in a mosque targeted by Israel, which awaited the most opportune moment to push its ground assault into the Gaza Strip, amid British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts at peace-making.
Israeli warplanes targeted Al-Salam Mosque in Deir Al-Balah on Friday morning, leading to a number of martyrs and the injury of many civilians, Palestinian authorities said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Israel’s two principal supporters—the US and the UK—got busy with their own domestic political affairs. While US President Joe Biden was anxious to see the election of a new Speaker for the House of Representatives, British PM Rishi Sunak, who is currently touring the Middle East, saw his Conservating Party tasting a crushing defeat in elections back home.
President Biden on Thursday asked Americans to spend billions more dollars to help Israel fight Hamas. In his speech from the White House, Biden also said Hamas sought to “annihilate” Israel’s democracy.
As the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists continues to escalate, an alleged Israeli airstrike led to an explosion at a Greek Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip which was housing displaced Palestinians late Thursday, resulting in 17 deaths and many injuries, the media reported quoting the Palestinian sources.
A day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed limited humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt following a request from US President Joe Biden, the latter said he would ask Congress to approve extra funding for Israel.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 others have been wounded since the war began on October 7.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, an Israeli military spokesperson said, adding the families of 206 people believed to have been captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza had been notified.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday visited the Rafah border crossing, from where aid is expected to flow into the Gaza Strip.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday in Tel Aviv, also called on Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Friday. They agreed on the need to prevent the escalation of violence across the Middle East and urgently get humanitarian aid into Gaza, Sunak’s office said.
PM Sunak will now travel to Egypt on Friday, part of a trip to the Middle East where he wants to press his message that there should be no escalation of violence in the region after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Amid the volatile situation, the US launched a visa waiver program allowing Israelis wishing to visit the US for 90 days or less to come without applying for a visa. Washington announced that it was admitting Israel into the visa waiver program, adding the country to a select group of 40 mostly European and Asian countries whose citizens can travel to the US for three months without visas. The US said Israelis could start traveling to America without visas as of November 30.
Bracing for a long haul after its most-awaited ground assault of Gaza, Israel approved regulations to temporarily shut down foreign news channels during states of emergency, such as the current war, if it believes the outlet is damaging national security.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi passed these regulations to shut down the Al Jazeera news channel, which he claims has damaged national security.
The regulations are retroactive, meaning broadcasts by the Qatari network since the war started can now be used as the basis for a decision to shut down the staunchly pro-Palestinian news outlet’s local branch.
President Joe Biden, in an impassioned speech to the nation from the Oval Office on Thursday, made the case for massive funding to Ukraine and Israel as a vital US interest.
Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin “represent different threats but they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy,” he said in a prime-time speech.
Funding Ukraine and Israel, “Is a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” the 80-year-old Democrat said in just the second speech of his presidency delivered from behind the historic Resolute Desk.
“America is a beacon to the world. Still. Still,” he said.
Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel this week, Biden wants to win over war-weary voters and hardline Republicans as he ramps up his 2024 reelection bid.
The White House is said to be teeing up a huge request to US Congress for a USD 100 billion package that would include funding for Israel in its war with Hamas and also for Ukraine’s battle against Russian invasion.
The threat of a wider Middle Eastern conflict, meanwhile, looms in the background.
The US has already moved two aircraft carriers into the Eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon’s Hezbollah, both allies of Hamas, from getting involved in the Hamas-Israel war.
