United Nations
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday criticized Israel’s
plan to take control of Gaza City, with the U.N. chief’s
spokesperson saying the decision marked “a dangerous escalation”
that will result in forced displacement of Palestinians.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take
control of Gaza City to further expand Israel’s military
offensive in the Palestinian enclave devastated by nearly a
two-year Israeli assault. The plan drew strong criticism at home
and abroad on Friday.
When asked by Fox News’ Bill Hemmer on Thursday if Israel
would take over the entire coastal territory, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we intend to.”
KEY QUOTES
“This decision marks a dangerous escalation and risks
deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of
Palestinians, and could further endanger more lives, including
of the remaining hostages,” the U.N. chief’s spokesperson said
in a statement.
That decision “will result in additional forced
displacement, killings and massive destruction, compounding the
unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza,”
the statement added. Forced displacement is illegal under
international law.
CONTEXT
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s military assault has killed
more than 61,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger
crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population and
prompted accusations of genocide at the International Court of
Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court.
Israel denies the accusations.
Israel’s offensive followed an October 2023 attack in which
Palestinian Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took about
250 hostages, Israeli tallies show. That attack sparked the
latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United NationsSecretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday criticized Israel’splan to take control of Gaza City, with the U.N. chief’sspokesperson saying the decision marked “a dangerous escalation”that will result in forced displacement of Palestinians.WHY IT’S IMPORTANTIsrael’s security cabinet has approved a plan to takecontrol of Gaza City to further expand Israel’s militaryoffensive in the Palestinian enclave devastated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n