At the foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, pressure is growing on Israel to open up to a two-state solution. The government in Jerusalem is struggling to release more hostages. Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip. The overview.
Germany and the EU are increasing pressure on opponents of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. Meanwhile, the Israeli military wants to disable Khan Yunis’ Hamas brigade.
Israel’s military is expanding its offensive in the south of the Gaza Strip
Eyewitnesses report violent clashes between Israeli soldiers and fighters from the Islamist Hamas militia in the west of Khan Yunis. The fighting took place in the immediate vicinity of two hospitals and at tent cities for refugees from the north of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Red Crescent spoke of dozens of deaths and injuries.
According to Israeli media reports, the military confirmed that it had made a major advance into an area in the west of Khan Yunis that it had not previously entered. The operation could take several days. The aim is to render Khan Yunis’s Hamas brigade incapable of fighting. So far, 50 Hamas fighters, including a company commander, have been killed. The army said three soldiers were killed on the Israeli side.
The army is aware that it is operating in an extremely densely populated area, it said. At the same time, however, she is confronted with the fact that Hamas terrorists repeatedly attack her from hospitals, mosques and residential areas.
Shelling on Israel’s northern border
Israel’s military and the Shiite militia Hezbollah in southern Lebanon are again reporting mutual shelling. The Israeli army said fighter jets had bombed a military building in Marun al-Ras in southern Lebanon where several “terrorists” were staying. A video was published showing the attack with a huge explosion and several subsequent explosions. The army emphasized that the detonations were an indication that there were weapons there. There were further attacks in the towns of Maruahin, Chihine, Taibi, Tajir Harfa as well as Kfarkila and Blida.
Hezbollah, in turn, said it attacked three different targets in Israel. The militia has reported 167 deaths in its ranks since fighting began on October 7 following the bloody Hamas attack on Israel. Hezbollah’s senior member, Lebanese parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah, said Israel had gone too far with its attacks in recent weeks and had learned nothing from previous fighting. “For the blood of every martyr who irrigated this land, thousands of mujahideen were born,” Fadlallah said.
EU is putting pressure on Netanyahu
The latest statements from Israel on the subject of a two-state solution were criticized in clear terms at an EU meeting. “All those who don’t want to know anything about it have not yet come up with any other alternative,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at an EU meeting in Brussels.
A number of other ministers also made similar statements and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He had once again made it clear that he rejected a two-state solution after the end of the Gaza war.
According to Baerbock, it is crucial to make it clear that Israel can only live in security if the Palestinians can also live in security and dignity. At the same time, Palestinians can only live in dignity, security and freedom if Israel lives in security.
A majority of Israelis reject a two-state solution. Many fear that this could result in rockets raining down on Israeli locations from the West Bank. In addition, some argue that an independent state after the unprecedented massacre of October 7th would be a reward. The Islamist Hamas is also against a two-state solution. It seeks the destruction of Israel.
Netanyahu: “No real proposal” from Hamas for new hostage deal
According to Netanyahu, there is also “no real proposal” from the Islamist Hamas to release any more hostages. “On the other hand, there is an initiative of ours that I will not give details of,” Netanyahu said in a meeting with relatives of hostages kidnapped from Israel and held in the Gaza Strip for 108 days, according to his office.
The relatives have recently intensified their protests and are pushing hard for a new deal to release those abducted. There were tumultuous scenes at a parliamentary committee in Jerusalem on Monday as angry members stormed the room. The meeting had to be canceled.
An Israeli government spokesman, however, strictly rejected an agreement on the release of hostages on conditions offered by the Islamist Hamas. The terrorist organization has demanded “ridiculous” demands such as a complete withdrawal of the army from the Gaza Strip and the release of “rapists and murderers” who committed atrocities in the October 7 attack on Israel, spokesman Avi Hyman said.
According to media reports, Israel and Hamas are also being pressured by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to enter into a negotiation process that will lead to the release of hostages and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. The Wall Street Journal reported that negotiations should continue in Cairo in the coming days.
Hamas massacre: only soldiers were the target
Hamas submitted a 16-page report attempting to justify the massacre in the Israeli border area on October 7th. The attack on Israel by thousands of terrorists is described in the report published on Sunday evening as a “necessary step and normal response to oppose all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people and their cause.” Although the vast majority of the approximately 1,200 deaths were civilians, the terrorist organization claims that the sole target of the attack was Israeli soldiers.
“Preventing harm to civilians – especially children, women and the elderly – is a religious and moral obligation of all Al-Aqsa Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing) fighters,” the report said. However, many children, women and elderly people were among those killed on October 7 and more than 250 people kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.
EU states agree on military action in the Red Sea
In Brussels, the EU states reached a political agreement in principle on the start of a military operation to secure merchant shipping in the Red Sea. According to diplomats, the operation should ideally start next month and end the attacks by militant Islamist Houthis from Yemen. The militant Islamist militia wants to use shelling of ships to force an end to the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, which followed the unprecedented Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th.
According to current plans, the EU operation will involve sending European warships and airborne early warning systems to the region to protect cargo ships. However, participation in the US attacks against Houthi positions in Yemen is not planned. Germany wants to take part in the military operation with the frigate “Hessen” – provided that the Bundestag issues a corresponding mandate after the EU planning has been completed.