UN Security Council splits over violence in Middle East,
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters/AFP) – Israel pounded the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Sunday, killing hundreds of people in retaliation for one of the bloodiest attacks in its history when Islamist group Hamas killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens more.
Hamas fighters’ rampage through Israel towns on Saturday was the deadliest such incursion since Egypt and Syria’s attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago and has threatened to ignite another conflagration in the never-ending conflict.
Israeli air strikes hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing more than 400 people, including 20 children, in keeping with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of “mighty vengeance”.
“We’re going to be attacking Hamas severely and this is going to be a long, long haul,” an Israeli military spokesperson told reporters.
Beyond blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia exchanged artillery and rocket fire, while in Egypt two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with a guide.
Appeals for restraint came from around the world, though Western nations largely stood by Israel while Iran, Hezbollah and protesters in various Middle Eastern nations lauded Hamas.
In southern Israel on Sunday, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces more than 24 hours after their surprise, multi-pronged assault of rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran army bases and invaded border towns.
“My two little girls, they’re only babies. They’re not even five years old and three years old,” said Yoni Asher who recounted seeing video of gunmen seizing his wife and two small daughters after she took them to visit her mother.
Israel’s military, which faces awkward questions for not thwarting the attack, said it had regained control of most infiltration points along security barriers, killed hundreds of attackers and taken dozens more prisoner.
The military said it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and was starting to evacuate Israelis around the frontier.
“This is my fifth war. The war should stop. I don’t want to keep feeling this,” said Qassab al-Attar, a Palestinian wheelchair user in Gaza whose brothers carried him to shelter.
At least 700 people were killed, Israeli media said, children among them. Israel has not released an official toll.
HOSTAGES
With the debris from Saturday’s attack still laying around southern towns and border communities on Sunday morning, Israelis were reeling from the sight of bloodied bodies in streets, cars and even their homes.
About 30 missing Israelis attending a dance party emerged from hiding on Sunday, Israeli media reported.
Palestinian fighters took dozens of hostages back into Gaza, including both soldiers and civilians, children and elderly among them.
The capture of so many Israelis, some pulled through security checkpoints or driven bleeding into Gaza, is another conundrum for Netanyahu after past episodes when hostages were exchanged for many Palestinian prisoners.
Among the hostages were believed to be a Mexican man and woman.
While,
Numerous members of the UN Security Council denounced Hamas on Sunday over its massive assault on Israel but the United States regretted a lack of unanimity.
At an emergency session, the United States urged strong condemnation of the Palestinian Islamists, who rule the blockaded Gaza Strip and launched a surprise assault and kidnapping operation on Saturday.
“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the closed-door session.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a clear allusion to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine.
Diplomats said the Security Council did not consider any joint statement, let alone a binding resolution, with members led by Russia hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.
“My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades” by the Security Council, said Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations.
“This is partly the result of unresolved issues,” he said.
China, generally Russia’s ally at the Security Council, said it would support a joint statement.
“It’s abnormal that the Security Council doesn’t say anything,” said Ambassador Zhang Jun, who earlier promised Chinese support for a condemnation of “all attacks against civilians.”
Ahead of the session, Israel’s ambassador, Gilad Erdan, showed graphic pictures of Israeli civilians being taken captive by Hamas.
“These are war crimes — blatant, documented war crimes,” Erdan told reporters outside of the Security Council.
“This unimaginable — unimaginable — atrocity must be condemned,” he said of the Security Council.
“Israel must be given steadfast support to defend ourselves — to defend the free world.”
The Palestinian ambassador — who represents the West Bank-centered Palestinian Authority and not rival Hamas — called on the Security Council to focus on ending Israeli occupation.
“Regrettably, history for some media and politicians starts when Israelis are killed,” said the envoy, Riyad Mansour.
“This is not a time to let Israel double-down on its terrible choices. This is a time to tell Israel it needs to change course, that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed.”
The Palestinian Authority and Israel were not part of the closed-door meeting, as neither are currently members on the Security Council.
The representative of the United Arab Emirates — which normalized relations with Israel as part of a landmark 2020 deal — expected more Security Council meetings on the crisis.
“I think everyone understands that today the situation is one of grave concern,” said the UAE ambassador, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh.
“Many members of the Council believe that a political horizon leading to a two-state solution is the only way to finally solve this conflict,” she said.
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