The Israeli army has carried out an air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza which killed four children.
The children’s bodies were found in the debris of houses, the Palestinian news agency reported.
It added that the Israeli military continued its attacks from the air and ground on the Khan Younis region in southern Gaza, targeting the surroundings of Nasir Hospital with artillery shells.
Since Oct. 7 last year, the Israeli army has been conducting a war in Gaza, resulting in 25,700 deaths and 63,740 injuries, most of them women and children, say Palestinian authorities.
The war has also caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the United Nations.
Nearly all US Senate Democrats back two-state solution
An overwhelming majority of President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in the Senate have backed a statement reiterating US support of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict arising from Israel’s decades-old occupation of Palestine.
Forty-nine of the 51 members of the Senate Democratic caucus backed an amendment supporting a negotiated solution to the conflict that results in Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side, ensuring Israel’s survival and fulfilling the Palestinians’ “legitimate aspirations” for an independent country.
Senator Brian Schatz introduced the measure as an amendment to an upcoming bill that would provide national security aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
“What will determine the future of Israel and Palestine is whether or not there’s hope. And the two-state solution has to be that hope,” Schatz told a news conference.
With Israel’s war raging in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference this month that he objected to any Palestinian statehood that did not guarantee Israel’s security.
US remains a key ally of Israel, doling out billions of dollars to Tel Aviv in aid every year, shielding it from the UN resolutions and arming it to the teeth against besieged Palestinians.
Russia says Palestinian unity key toward liberation
Russia’s top diplomat has said the first step toward Palestinian sovereignty must be for the divided Palestinians to rebuild unity of all factions. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said without unity “there will be no bedrock foundation for the Palestinian state.”
He said the lack of unity will be used as a pretext to keep Gaza “in some kind of special status where somebody will ensure security,” separated from the occupied West Bank, parts of which are governed by the Palestinian Authority.
“They themselves need to determine which principles will establish the basis for the restoration of the unity of their people,” he said.
Lavrov told UN reporters that Arab nations and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation he just met with are “very resolute” that an official decision should be made about the creation of a Palestinian state, and negotiations should start and be accompanied “by neutral and effective mediators.”
About 72 percent of UN member states already recognise Palestine as a country with besieged Gaza, occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as its inseparable part.
Unfortunately, he said, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — “exists no longer.” He blamed the US for thwarting its efforts and insisting it could handle mediation alone.
Lavrov said regional countries led by the Arab League should take the initiative to establish “a mediation mechanism that would prepare ideally an international conference on the Palestinian issue” to move toward a two-state solution where Israel and the Palestinians live side-by-side in peace.
But he warned repeatedly that without unity among the Palestinians, there cannot be a viable Palestinian state.
Israeli protesters seek hostage deal and block highway in Tel Aviv
Hundreds of protesters have blocked the main highway in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to secure the immediate release of more than 100 hostages held captive in Gaza.
It was the latest show of displeasure with the far-right Netanyahu government by families of the hostages and their many supporters. They say that the hostages are in grave danger and time is running out to bring them home safely.
Police cleared the protesters off the Ayalon Highway before the crowd gathered outside the nearby building where the Israeli military and Defence Ministry are headquartered.
Hamas resistance fighters captured some 250 hostages in the cross-fence October 7 attack.
Over 100 hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong ceasefire in late November. But about 110 hostages are believed to remain in captivity.
Last month, Hamas said some hostages were killed due to Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Palestinian enclave, and three Israelis who escaped captivity were killed as the consequence of its occupation forces’ indiscriminate fire.
