Lull in Gaza fighting as Biden urges truce in Eid al-Adha message

GAZA STRIP - Israel struck Gaza on June 17 and witnesses reported blasts in the besieged territory’s south, but fighting has largely subsided after a day of relative calm and as Muslims marked Eid al-Adha.

In a holiday message late on June 16, US President Joe Biden called for the implementation of a ceasefire plan he outlined in May, saying it was “the best way to end the violence in Gaza” and to help civilians suffering “the horrors of the war between Hamas and Israel”.

A daytime “pause” for aid deliveries announced at the weekend by Israel’s military around a southern Gaza route appeared to be holding, while elsewhere in the Palestinian territory, an AFP correspondent said strikes and shelling have decreased.

In Gaza City, medics at Al-Ahli Hospital said at least five people were killed in two separate air strikes, and witnesses reported tank shelling in the southern neighbourhood of Zeitun.

At least one strike hit Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, residents said.

Palestinian officials in the far southern city of Rafah reported tank shelling early on June 17, before the start of the daily “local, tactical pause of military activity” announced by the army.

The army said the pause “for humanitarian purposes will take place from 8am until 7pm every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Salah al-Din road and then northwards”.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “there was no change” in the military’s policy and stressed fighting “continues as planned”.

An army spokeperson said the pause was in effect on June 17, and the military in a statement said troops were still operating in Rafah and central Gaza, reporting “close-quarters combat” that killed several militants.

Witnesses said they could hear blasts in Rafah’s city centre and west in the morning that day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war Cabinet, an Israeli official said the same day.

This came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Mr Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war Cabinet.

The Prime Minister had on June 16 criticised plans by the military to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

Humanitarian needs

A map released by the army showed the declared humanitarian route extending up to Rafah’s European Hospital, about 10km from Kerem Shalom.

Mr Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defence agency in the Hamas-ruled territory, said that apart from the deadly Gaza City strikes overnight, “the other areas of the Gaza Strip are somewhat calm”.

He reported military movements and gunfire in parts of Rafah as well as Bureij camp in central Gaza.

On June 16, the first day of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, the spokesman said “calm has prevailed across all of Gaza”.

The United Nations has welcomed the Israeli announcement of the pause, although “this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need”, said Mr Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

He called for “further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues” on humanitarian needs.

Gazans “urgently need food, water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare, with many living near piles of solid waste, heightening health risks,” Mr Laerke said.

Dire shortages of food and other essentials in the Gaza Strip have been exacerbated by overland access restrictions and the closure of the key Rafah crossing with Egypt since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May.

The military said the pause was in effect as part of efforts to “increase the volumes of humanitarian aid” following discussions with the UN and other organisations.

It was announced a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near Rafah and three more died elsewhere, in one of the heaviest losses for the army in more than eight months of war against Hamas militants.

‘End the war’

The war was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented Oct 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the Israeli army says 41 are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive aimed at wiping out Hamas has killed at least 37,337 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been pushing for a new Gaza truce, so far without success.

Washington has been pressing Israel and Hamas to formally accept Mr Biden’s truce plan, which would allow an initial six-week pause to fighting.

“I strongly believe that the three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel has made to Hamas and that the UN Security Council has endorsed is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and ultimately end the war,” the US President said.

The only previous truce lasted one week in November and saw many hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, while increased aid flowed into Gaza.

Hamas has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire – demands Israel has repeatedly rejected. AFP