in an interview with Anthony Blinken
Israeli soldiers are using Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip as human shields and forcing them to perform life-threatening tasks, The Washington Post (WP) reports, citing representatives of the Jewish state's army as well as residents of the Palestinian enclave.
Civilians were forced to enter buildings believed to have explosives and “photograph every inch of it” before troops were allowed to inspect the buildings. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to the report, but said in a written statement that the use of civilians as human shields is prohibited. “The IDF is working on specific allegations of violations that deviate from the directives and values expected of its troops and is targeting them accordingly,” the statement said.
The army did not say whether it had investigated or disciplined soldiers for using Palestinians as human shields, or whether steps had been taken to end the practice. According to American law, the Washington administration must end military support to Israeli units found guilty of gross human rights violations.
The Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be considered as parts of a single entity in preparation for the establishment of the State of Palestine. This was stated by Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
„It is necessary to expand the capabilities of the Palestinian National Authority and consider the West Bank and Gaza as parts of a single Palestinian territory in order to prepare for the end of the occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian state,” said Abdel Ati, quoted by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The head of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry also stressed that his country "categorically does not accept and condemns the Israeli measures that hinder the work of the UN Agency for the assistance and work of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East".
Currently, the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and the Fatah movement, which plays an important role in the West Bank, are consulting in Cairo on the governance of the Gaza Strip through the established Public Support Committee. According to a high-ranking source of the Egyptian television channel Al Ekhbariya, this structure was “created by decree of the President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas”, “is connected to the Palestinian National Authority” and “includes independent representatives“.
The source of the channel stressed that the meeting of the two factions "is aimed at achieving Palestinian unity, not at the separation of the West Bank from Gaza". On Sunday, Hamas Politburo member Osama Hamdan said the talks in Cairo were "progressing positively, but it is too early to talk about their results.
In 2005, Israel, as part of a unilateral disengagement plan, completely withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip and evacuated Jewish settlements there. Control of the sector was then transferred to the Abbas-led Palestinian National Authority, which also ruled the West Bank. However, the first elections for the Palestinian parliament were won by representatives of the radical Hamas movement, which clashed with the more moderate Fatah party, leading to a split between the factions. Hamas took full control of Gaza, while Fatah retained power in the West Bank.
Recently, Abbas and his supporters have regularly stated their desire to restore Palestinian National Authority jurisdiction over Gaza, but Hamas has yet to agree to this.