JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government underscored their opposition to a Palestinian state ahead of a UN Security Council vote Monday on a resolution endorsing a US-backed Gaza peace plan.
The draft resolution would follow up on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by US President Donald Trump, giving the council’s blessing for a transitional administration and a temporary international security force in the devastated territory.
Unlike previous drafts, the latest version of the resolution mentions a possible future Palestinian state, which the Israeli government is vehemently against.
“Our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Netanyahu had come in for criticism from coalition members, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had accused him of failing to respond to a recent wave of recognition of Palestinian statehood by Western countries.
“Formulate immediately an appropriate and decisive response that will make it clear to the entire world – no Palestinian state will ever arise on the lands of our homeland,” Smotrich urged Netanyahu on X.
The premier replied Sunday that he did “not need affirmations, tweets, or lectures from anyone.”
Other ministers likewise expressed their opposition to Palestinian statehood, though none explicitly referred to the resolution.
“Israel’s policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X Sunday.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said on X that the country would “not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel.”
Far-right firebrand and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went even further, calling the Palestinian identity an “invention.”
The Security Council resolution would effectively usher in the second phase of the US-backed deal reached last month, which brought about a ceasefire after two years of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The first phase has seen the release of the last 20 living Israeli hostages and nearly all of the 28 dead captives held by Palestinian militants.
In exchange, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and returned 330 bodies.
Israeli leaders voice opposition to Palestinian state before UN Gaza vote
https://arab.news/j8pq8
Israeli leaders voice opposition to Palestinian state before UN Gaza vote
- The draft resolution would follow up on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas
- Unlike previous drafts, the latest version of the resolution mentions a possible future Palestinian state
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
