The League of Arab Foreign Ministers will meet Wednesday to discuss Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip following a surprise assault by Hamas on Israel, the regional bloc announced.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood Saturday and said the surprise attack was in response to the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.
It said it fired rockets and captured many Israelis.
The meeting in Cairo, Egypt’s capital will seek to find “avenues of political action at the Arab and international level”, as Israel keeps pounding targets in Gaza following Saturday’s attack, Arab League deputy Chief Hossam Zaki said in a statement.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saturday, requested an emergency ministerial-level meeting of the Arab League over the latest Israeli escalation.
In a statement, the ministry said it had directed “its permanent delegation to the Arab League to request an emergency meeting of the League Council at the ministerial level.”
The development was reached over “the escalation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people,” it said.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry, Sunday, also called for an emergency Arab League meeting at the level of Arab foreign ministers for “consultation and coordination on the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip and the outbreak of military actions targeting civilians.”
Intensive consultations are underway for the meeting to be held this week at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, the ministry said in a written statement.
Israel orders ‘complete siege’ to Gaza
In a related development, Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, has ordered a “complete siege” to the Gaza Strip as the military pounded the Palestinian territory with air strikes.
Gallant gave the order in a video message referring to the enclave that is overcrowded with 2.3 million people, according to AFP.
Gallant said: “We are putting a complete siege on Gaza… No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed.”
Over 1,000 people have been killed in southern Israel since Hamas militants stormed across the border, Saturday, shooting people in the communities and towns near Gaza before Israeli security forces began fighting back.
An estimated 250 people were killed by Hamas gunmen at a music festival attended by young Israelis and foreigners near Kibbutz Reim, close to Gaza, according to an organisation that helped to recover the bodies.
“We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly,” Gallant said in Hebrew.
…300,000 reservists to the rescue
The Israeli military said it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and was imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, signs it could be planning a ground assault there to defeat Hamas after it launched a humiliating attack.
In a further signal of Israel’s rapid shift on to a war footing, a cabinet member from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party said it could set up a national unity government joined by opposition leaders within hours.
Hamas’ armed wing said it fired rockets towards Jerusalem in response to Israel’s bombing of civilian homes in Gaza.
Four people in an area on the outskirts of the city were wounded, the ambulance service said.
Palestinian fighters were still holed up in several locations inside Israel two days after they killed hundreds of Israelis and seized dozens of hostages in a raid that shattered Israel’s reputation of invincibility.
Israel’s Kan TV said the death toll from the Hamas attack had climbed to 800.
Netanyahu told mayors of southern towns hit by Saturday’s surprise assault that Israel’s response would “change the Middle East”.
In Hamas-controlled Gaza, Israel pressed on with its most intensive retaliatory strikes ever, which have killed more than 500 people since Saturday.
Gallant announced Israel’s tightened blockade which would keep even food and fuel from reaching the Strip, home to 2.3 million people.
….EU withdraws support to Palestinians
Meanwhile, the European Commission Monday said it was putting all of its development aid for Palestinians, worth 691 million euros ($729 million), under review and immediately suspending all payments following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Germany and Austria had earlier Monday said they were suspending bilateral development aid to Palestinians, while others such as Italy had said suspending aid was not up for discussion.
Europe is one of the main sources of aid to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories where the United Nations estimates that around 2.1 million people need humanitarian assistance, among them 1 million children.
It is unclear whether the suspensions in development aid will also apply to such assistance.
The commission did not immediately respond to a request to clarify this.
“The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point,” Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, said in a post on social media, adding “there can be no business as usual.”
Hamas militants killed hundreds of Israelis and abducted dozens in the deadliest of such incursion since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, prompting Israel to retaliate with its heaviest ever bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 400 people.
Varhelyi said all new budget proposals for Palestinian aid were also postponed until further notice.
“The foundations for peace, tolerance and co-existence must now be addressed,” he said.
“Incitement to hatred, violence and glorification of terror have poisoned the minds of too many,” he added. “We need action and we need it now.”
European Union foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on today (Tuesday) to discuss the situation, including reviewing aspects of development aid, officials said Monday.
Total EU assistance earmarked for the Palestinian people under the 2022 budget allocation was 296 million euros.
Neither the EU Commission, Germany or Austria differentiated between Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, and the much larger West Bank run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement is a rival to Hamas.
‘Sign of solidarity’
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said the country was suspending development aid totalling around 19 million euros ($20 million) for a handful of projects.
Neutral Austria’s ruling conservatives have adopted one of the most pro-Israel stances in the European Union in recent years. The Israeli flag has been hoisted above the chancellor’s office and the Foreign Ministry after the shock Hamas assault.
Germany divided
In Germany, Development Minister Svenja Schulze of the Social Democrats said no payments were currently being made for bilateral aid projects as Berlin re-examined its engagement with the Palestinian territories.
“This is also an expression of our unbreakable solidarity with Israel,” she told a news conference, adding “we are in contact with our partners there and reviewing everything again.”
Germany’s development ministry has earmarked 250 million euros in development funds for bilateral projects in the Palestinian territories for this and next year. It did not say how much of that it had already disbursed this year.
German politicians have over the past days emphasised their country’s particular duty towards Israel and its security given the historic responsibility for the holocaust.
The Israeli flag was projected Saturday night onto Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate.
Still, some politicians have pushed back against the decision to suspend aid, saying Hamas but not all Palestinians were responsible for the attack.
Moreover a spokesperson for the Greens-run foreign ministry said it would continue to disburse the 73 million euros it had earmarked for Palestinians – which were separate to the development ministry funds, and most of which had already been spent.
The Foreign Ministry funds via international organisations and the United Nations meaning Germany is bound to disburse what it has pledged, a government source said.
Asked if Italy would follow Germany and Austria in suspending development aid, the foreign ministry spokesperson said this was not under discussion.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, asked whether Britain planned to follow Austria and Germany, said Britain had previously provided aid to Palestinian refugees via the United Nations and he was not aware of plans to change the approach. Reuters
… Shiites drum support for Palestinians
And from Nigeria, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as ‘Shiites’, has declared its support for Palestinians.
In the ensuing conflict, Palestine was said to have had 421 deaths; and Israel over 700.
The numbers of those injured were put at 2, 220 and 2,156 respectively.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs the Gaza Strip, had explained that it launched its large-scale operation on Saturday in response to the “continued brutality” by Israel and its occupation administration against Palestinians.
This includes standing by as Israeli settlers launched attacks on Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods; attacking worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and killing an alarming number of Palestinians this year.
The ISM solidarity walk, which kicked off around 4 pm, Monday, from Banex Plaza Abuja, ended at the traffic light at Ahmadu Bello Way.
In a statement, Sheikh Sidi Munir Sokoto, a member of the Movement, said: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
“Calling people to support justice everywhere and oppose tyranny and oppression everywhere, is part of the teachings of our leader, Shaikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky (H).
“For more than three decades, the Islamic Movement, under the leadership of His Eminence Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H), has been organizing programmes and protests in support of the oppressed people of Palestine.
“In view of the foregoing, we are urging all in Nigeria to break the deafening silence and raise voices to support the oppressed Palestinians.
“While rejoicing for the success recorded by Palestinians, we wish to urge people to pray for and support the Palestine resistance movement. The Palestinian struggle is a struggle against global injustice and for the oppressed people of the World.”
