The head of Hamas International Relations, Basem Naim, has accused the U.S of offering support to Israel’s “genocidal war” in Gaza that has killed more than 21,000 people.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden has once again bypassed Congress to greenlight an emergency weapons sale to Israel,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress that he had made a second emergency determination in less than a month, covering a $147.5m sale of equipment to Israel.
The package includes ancillary items, including fuses, charges and primers that Israel would require to make the 155mm shells that it had previously purchased, function.
“While these crimes have been committed with Israeli hands, they were sponsored and backed up the U.S administration ,” he said in a televised statement.
He said, “We, therefore, hold the Biden administration, especially the president (Joe Biden) himself, and his foreign and defence secretaries accountable for their direct role in sponsoring and orchestrating this ongoing genocide against our people.”
“We also hold the international community accountable for their failure to stop the genocide,” Naim added.
According to Luciano Zaccara, Associate Professor of military studies at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center, the Biden administration is pursuing a “dual-track” approach when it comes to the Gaza war amid its recent decision to sell more weapons to Tel Aviv.
“On the one hand, they are trying to convince the public opinion that the U.S is really concerned about civilian casualties, but also they keep sustaining Israel (militarily),” Zaccara said.
He added, “It is totally contradicting … it is hard to understand how this is in the national interest.”
Zaccara said that the policy was especially perplexing in light of “mounting pressure” in the US, including among Democrats, against the war as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres reiterated his concerns that the war in Gaza will spill over into a regional conflict.
“There is a continued risk of wider regional conflagration, the longer the conflict in Gaza continues, given the risk of escalation and miscalculation by multiple actors,” Guterres said in a statement.
Burgeoning violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers is “extremely alarming”, the UN chief said, as is fighting between Hezbollah and Israel across the south Lebanon border, attacks from Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis attacking shipping in the Red Sea.
Additionally, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA ), accused Israeli officials and media outlets of “creating a stream of baseless misinformation” about gaps in aid deliveries to Gaza.
In a statement, Lazzarini said that Israeli statements have “insinuated or directly held UNRWA responsible for gaps in aid deliveries.”
Lazzarini said that Israeli authorities continue to impose “severe restrictions” on humanitarian access despite deliveries of aid from Egypt and through the Rafah crossing.
HRW Hails South Africa’s ICJ Filing Against Israel
In other developments, the Human Rights Watch stated that the case brought by South Africa under the 1948 Genocide Convention is an “important opportunity” for the International Court of Justice to examine the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.
South Africa announced on Friday, December 29, 2023, that it has approached the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) under the Geneva convention with respect to acts committed by Israel in Gaza.
South Africa called for an expedited hearing, and said the court should preliminarily “order Israel to cease killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinian people in Gaza.”
“By taking this step, Pretoria is looking to the World Court, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, to provide clear, definitive answers on the question of whether Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” Balkees Jarrah, Associate International Justice Director at HRW, said in a statement.
“South Africa has called on the World Court to urgently issue provisional measures to protect the Palestinian people and to ensure Israel’s compliance with the Genocide Convention,” Jarrah added.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza by its army, navy and air forces targeted multiple locations in the Palestinian territory’s southern Khan Younis and Rafah areas, hitting residential areas and civilian infrastructure and resulting in a large number of deaths, the UN reported.
Those killed were in areas where Palestinians were ordered to relocate from northern Gaza by Israeli forces, the UN said.
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