International outrage continues to reverberate as Israel ignores the International Court of Justice’s order to immediately cease its attack on southern Rafah, with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese saying: “Israel will not stop this madness until we make it stop.”
Earlier, she had called for sanctions against Israel for defying the court order.
At least 35,903 people have been killed and 80,420 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, reports Al Jazeera.
- READ MORE: Israel’s war on Gaza live news: Calls to declare famine in the enclave
- Other War on Gaza reports
The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attack stands at 1139 with dozens still held captive.
The Israeli military holds 3424 “administrative detainees” — prisoners held indefinitely and without charge — mostly Palestinian and seized since October 7. This figure is 26 times more “hostages” than being held by Hamas.
Israel’s public radio, Radio Israel, has cited General Yair Golan, former deputy chief-of-staff of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), saying that “there will be no deal [between Israel and Hamas] without the cessation of fighting” in Gaza.
‘Let’s be real’
“Let’s be real with ourselves, and we will not listen to the poison machine coming out of Jerusalem,” the general was quoted as saying.
Dr Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, citing a report in Politico, said “70 percent of Hamas’s fighting force remains intact on fighting in Gaza” and that Hamas had been able to recruit thousands of new members.
Israel has 26x more hostages than Hamas pic.twitter.com/cOjyct2QMO
— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) May 25, 2024
The report, he said, also indicated Hamas’s extensive tunnel network under the Gaza Strip remained largely intact.
Professor Elmasry told Al Jazeera there had also been reports that Hamas had been able to repurpose unexploded Israeli bombs, so the Palestinian resistance group no longer had a weapons supply issue.
“I think Israel is clearly getting all it can handle on the battlefield right now,” he concluded.
Israeli forces were reported to be advancing on Jabalia, trying to take control of Gaza’s largest refugee camp.
Fighting intensifies
Fighting in the camp has intensified during the past two weeks as Israel continues with its military operation in the camp located in the north of the enclave.
Insult on injury.
The #US will have to go through full introspection, internal and external scrutiny over the disaster it has contributed to create in Gaza. https://t.co/oQ2YOQN8hk— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 25, 2024
Craig Mokhiber, a former top UN human rights official, has questioned the US plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza through a temporary pier after the US said four vessels supporting the pier were washed away in the high seas on Saturday.
Mokhiber, who resigned from the UN last year, described the pier as a “fig leaf to cover US complicity in genocide and in the destruction of UNRWA” in a post on X.
He said the pier had “failed to have any meaningful impact” while “Israel continues to block aid at all crossing points”.
Meanwhile, in Canberra the leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, said his party would call a vote on Palestinian statehood in Australia’s Parliament this week, after a similar move announced by Ireland, Spain and Norway last week.
