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Blinken to Visit Israel to Reaffirm ‘Iron-Clad Support for Israel’s Security’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2024. Photo: Peter David Josek/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Saturday to “continue intensive diplomatic efforts to conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal presented today by the United States, with support from Egypt and Qatar,” the US State Department stated on Friday.
“This proposal would achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release of all hostages, ensure humanitarian assistance is distributed throughout Gaza and create the conditions for broader regional stability,” Foggy Bottom added, noting that Blinken will stress the importance of avoiding regional escalation.
“I am sending Secretary Blinken to Israel to reaffirm my iron-clad support for Israel’s security, continue our intensive efforts to conclude this agreement and to underscore that with the comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release deal now in sight, no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process,” US President Joe Biden stated on Friday.
Biden said that he reviewed “the significant progress made in Doha over the past two days of talks” with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“They expressed the strong support of Qatar and Egypt for the US proposal as co-mediators in this process,” Biden said. “Our teams will remain on the ground to continue technical work over the coming days, and senior officials will convene again in Cairo before the end of the week. They will report to me regularly.”
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IDF Announces Death of Major (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled, 34, in Gaza
Yotam Itzhak Peled. Photo: IDF
i24 News – An Israel Defense Forces reserve officer was killed by a roadside bomb in central Gaza on Saturday, the military announced.
IDF announces the death of Major (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled, 34, in Gaza. Peled was killed by a roadside bomb planted by Hamas. pic.twitter.com/1npx36rQpo
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) August 17, 2024
The death of Maj. (res.) Yotam Itzhak Peled, 34, a logistics officer with the Jerusalem Brigade’s 8119th Battalion, brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza to 330.
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Hamas Mulled Exhuming Graves of British Soldiers to Deter UK from Moving Embassy to Jerusalem
Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City on April 14, 2023. Photo: Yousef Masoud / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
i24 News – Hamas, the Palestinian jihadist group at war with Israel, planned to exhume century-old graves of British soldiers in the Gaza Strip and use the remains as leverage to blackmail the British government, the Telegraph reported Friday.
Israeli forces fighting against Hamas in Gaza uncovered a seven-page document detailing the malodorous plan, dated October 5, 2022. It is understood the document links the plan to Yahya Sinwar, the then-Hamas leader in Gaza, who would go on to orchestrate the October 7 massacre. He was recently named as the new chief of the Hamas political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
The document outlined the jihadists’ strategy to pressure the UK government into reversing its stance on Jerusalem following then-Prime Minister Liz Truss’s announced decision to relocate the British embassy from Tel Aviv.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission administers a cemetery in central Gaza holding the graves of Christian and some Jewish soldiers from WWI. According to the Telegraph, the graveyard holds the remains of over 3,000 Commonwealth troops.
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UN Chief Calls for Assurances of Humanitarian Ceasefires for Polio Vaccination Campaign in Gaza
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for parties to the conflict in Gaza to provide concrete assurances guaranteeing humanitarian pauses in order for a polio vaccine campaign to be conducted.
Guterres, speaking to reporters at the United Nations, appealed for assurances to be provided right away as he warned that preventing and containing the spread of polio in the enclave would take a massive coordinated and urgent effort.
“Let’s be clear: The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” Guterres said.
“But in any case, a polio pause is a must. It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over.”
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that it has detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip in the city of Deir Al-Balah for a 10-month-old baby who had not received any polio vaccination dose.
Guterres said the UN is poised to launch a polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for children under the age of 10, but said the “challenges are grave.”
At least 95% vaccination coverage will be needed during each of the two rounds of the campaign to prevent polio’s spread and reduce its emergence given the devastation in Gaza, Guterres said. He added that a successful campaign will require the facilitation of transport for vaccines and refrigeration equipment at every step, the entry of polio experts into Gaza, reliable internet and phone services, and other elements.
Polio was detected in sewage in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates, Dr. Hamid Jafari, a WHO polio specialist, said during a news conference earlier this month, adding it was possible the virus had been circulating since September.
A senior Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they understood there was at least one confirmed case and two suspected ones among Palestinians in the enclave, adding that there might not be a single humanitarian pause but multiple shorter ones.
The danger is that the threat of disease outbreaks is not confined to Gaza, which the official said was a “contagion time bomb.” The official explained that when the rainy season begins late this autumn, the contaminated raw sewage could be “pushed” down to an aquifer from which Israel, Egypt and Jordan draw water.
Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
Children under 5 are most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under 2 since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by 10 months of conflict.
Without proper health services, the population of Gaza is particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of disease, public health officials and aid groups say.
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