Biden urges pause in Gaza fighting as Hamas says
refugee camp death toll nearing 200
US president says pause will allow time to rescue
hostages, amid fresh Israeli airstrikes on enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp
Staff and
agencies
Thu 2 Nov
2023 05.33 GMT
Joe Biden
has said there should be a “pause” in the fighting in Gaza to enable the
release of hostages, as Hamas said nearly 200 people had been killed in two
days of Israeli airstrikes on the enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp.
The US
president was speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Minneapolis on Wednesday
when a woman shouted: “Mr President, if you care about Jewish people, as a
rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire.”
Biden
responded: “I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the
prisoners out.” White House officials later clarified he was referring to
hostages being held by Hamas.
The White
House has previously called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to be
delivered into Gaza or to carry out evacuations, but has so far refused to
discuss a ceasefire, believing it would exclusively play into the hands of
Hamas. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a
ceasefire.
The call
was a subtle departure for Biden and top White House aides, who throughout the
crisis have been steadfast in stating they will not dictate how the Israelis
carry out their military operations in response to the 7 October attack by
Hamas that killed 1,400 people, most of whom were Israeli civilians. Israel’s
retaliatory attacks have killed 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children,
the health ministry in Gaza has said.
Fresh
strikes on Gaza’s biggest refugee camp, in Jabalia, on Wednesday saw the camp’s
death toll rise to 195, with a further 120 still missing under the rubble, a
Hamas-run government media office said. At least 777 more were wounded, the
office said.
The Israel
Defence Forces (IDF) said it targeted and killed Muhammad A’sar, the commander
of Hamas’s anti-tank guided missile array, in Wednesday’s attack. The IDF said
Tuesday’s attack was to kill Ibrahim Biari – a key Hamas commander linked to
the 7 October attacks. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Biari had been
leading fighting in northern Gaza from a network of tunnels under the camp.
“Scores” of
Hamas fighters had been killed in the strike along with Biari, Hagari said, but
declined to give an exact number or comment on civilian casualties.
Hamas said
that seven hostages – including three foreign passport holders – were killed in
Tuesday’s attack. On Wednesday the UN human rights office said Israel’s
airstrike on the Jabalia camp could amount to a war crime.
Meanwhile,
hundreds of foreign nationals and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were
allowed to leave Gaza after more than three weeks under siege.
By late
Wednesday, at least 335 dual nationals and 76 injured seriously wounded and
sick people had crossed the border, with more expected to follow. Only a
handful of Americans crossed, all employed by international organisations.
Biden has said he “expect[ed] to see more depart over the coming days”.
Those
cleared to leave on Wednesday included citizens and dual passport holders from
Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Japan and
Jordan, as well as staff members from several aid organisations. It is
understood that initially only two of the 500 people on a list of those
eligible to leave were British nationals.
Philippe
Lazzarini, the commissioner general for UNRWA, the main UN agency in Palestine,
said “the scale of tragedy in Gaza is unprecedented”, after visiting the
besieged territory for the first time since 7 October. Lazzarini described his
visit to the Gaza Strip as “one of the saddest days in my humanitarian work”
and urged a “meaningful” humanitarian response to prevent people in Gaza from
dying.
“The levels
of distress and the unsanitary living conditions were beyond comprehension,” he
said. “Everyone was just asking for water and food. Instead of being at school,
learning, children were asking for a sip of water and a piece of bread. It was
heart-wrenching. Above all, people were asking for a ceasefire. They want this
tragedy to end.”
White House
national security council spokesperson John Kirby said earlier on Wednesday
that Biden’s newly confirmed ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, would soon be sent
to the Middle East and would be tasked in part with “supporting US efforts to
create the conditions for a humanitarian pause to address the worsening
humanitarian conditions facing Palestinian civilians”.
On
Wednesday, Biden engaged further with the woman who interrupted the event in
Minneapolis. “I’m the guy that convinced Bibi [Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu] to call for a ceasefire to let the prisoners out. I’m the guy that
talked to [Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi] to convince him to open the
door” along Gaza’s border with Egypt to allow freed hostages to leave.
“This is
incredibly complicated for the Israelis,” Biden went on. “It’s incredibly
complicated for the Muslim world as well. ... I supported a two-state solution,
I have from the very beginning. The fact of the matter is that Hamas is a
terrorist organisation. A flat-out terrorist organisation,” he said.
With
Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
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