Palestinian Authority could only return to Gaza if ‘solution’ found to conflict: Abbas,
Fazl showers support for Palestine in meeting with Hamas bigwigs,
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Sunday at least 9,770 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel erupted last month.
The ministry said at least 4,800 children were among those killed since Israel began striking the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas militants in southern Israel that Israeli officials say killed over 1,400, most of them civilians.
US top diplomat Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire as more died in a strike on a refugee camp overnight.
A spokesman for the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said earlier on Sunday that Israeli military had struck the Maghazi refugee camp overnight, killing at least 47 people.
In a separate attack, 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Gaza overnight, the health ministry said.
Reuters could not independently verify these accounts.
“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Abbas told Blinken, demanding an “immediate ceasefire” from Israel.
“There are no words to describe the war of genocide and destruction to which our Palestinian people are being subjected in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli war machine, without regard to the rules of international law,” Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Abbas as telling Blinken.
Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met Blinken in Amman on Saturday and also pushed for Washington to convince Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
But Blinken has dismissed the idea, saying it would only benefit Hamas, allowing it to regroup and attack again. Instead, the United States are pushing for localised pauses in fighting to allow in humanitarian aid and for people to leave the densely populated Gaza Strip.
“The Secretary reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Abbas has had little sway in Gaza since the Hamas takeover of the enclave in 2007.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and that the Islamist Palestinian group is using residents as human shields.
Gaza health officials said on Sunday more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the war, which began when Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 others hostage.
Evacuations of injured Gazans and foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing to Egypt have been suspended since Saturday, two Egyptian security sources and a medical source told Reuters.
One of the security sources and the medical source said the evacuations were suspended after an Israeli strike on Friday on an ambulance in Gaza being used to transport injured people.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday disciplined a junior member of his cabinet who voiced openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza.
Earlier,
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority could return to power in the Gaza Strip only if a “comprehensive political solution” is found for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israel has sought to destroy Gaza’s Hamas rulers since the deadly October 7 attacks, raising the question of who would run the Palestinian territory after the war.
“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
While,
JUI-F supremo Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), recently led a delegation to Qatar for a high-level meeting with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal.
The leaders engaged in a detailed discussion on the Palestine conflict and Israel’s war on Gaza—a territory of Palestine where Hamas rules.
During the meeting, leaders emphasized the need for unity among the Muslim Ummah in response to Israeli actions against Palestine.
Ismail Haniya stated: “Israel is making a sinister attempt to turn the first Qibla into a temple by oppressing Palestine. It is the duty of the Muslim Ummah to unite against Israeli atrocities.”
Haniya further pointed out that some countries claiming to uphold human rights are providing support to Tel Aviv with shipments of weapons, highlighting the need for collective action from the Muslim world.
Senior Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri and Palestinian people—both of whom have faced long-standing hardships.
He remarked, “Atrocities on Kashmir and Palestine for a long time are a slap in the face of human rights claimants. The hands of the claimants of developed countries are stained with the blood of innocent children and women.”
Maulana Fazlur Rehman called for the Muslim Ummah to stand alongside their Palestinian brothers in practical ways. He stated, “The Palestinians are not only fighting for their land but also for the freedom of the first Qibla while fulfilling their duty on behalf of the Muslim Ummah.”
Fazlur Rehman concluded the gathering with a prayer for the martyrs and the swift recovery of the injured.
JUI Sindh Secretary General Maulana Rashid Mahmud Soomro and Mufti Abrar Ahmed accompanied Fazlu Rehman.
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