Gaza’s security
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country will assume long-term responsibility for Gaza’s security following the conclusion of its conflict with Hamas.
During a television interview with ABC News, he said, “Israel will, for an indefinite duration, bear the overarching security responsibility.”
Netanyahu emphasized the importance of this security role, highlighting that without it, there would be a significant upsurge in Hamas terrorism.
Since October 7, the Israeli military has conducted extensive air, land, and sea operations in Gaza in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas militants, which resulted in 1,400 casualties in Israel, with the majority being civilians, according to Israeli authorities, and the taking of more than 240 hostages.
The death toll in Gaza, as reported by the Hamas-run health ministry on Monday, has exceeded 10,000 individuals, including over 4,000 children.
During the interview, Netanyahu disputed the health ministry’s figures, suggesting that they likely included “several thousand” Palestinian combatants.
Despite calls from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other world leaders for a ceasefire, Netanyahu expressed his opposition to one, insisting that there would be no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of Israeli hostages.
He did, however, mention the possibility of temporary pauses to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the departure of hostages from the besieged Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile,
The non-governmental organization that supports the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza has accused Tel Aviv of spreading false information to justify an attack on the hospital.
The organization, which funded the hospital’s construction and sends Indonesian volunteers, rejected the Israeli military’s claim that the medical center was used by Hamas for launching attacks.
The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahiya was established in 2015 through donations raised by the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C).
Three Indonesian volunteers have been working at the hospital since Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza.
This hospital is one of the few remaining medical facilities in the region, having treated over 3,500 Palestinian civilians, while Israel continues its daily bombardment of the densely populated area in response to an attack by Hamas on October 7.
The Israel Defense Forces have accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as operational bases. They claim that the Indonesian hospital is being used as an underground command and control center.
However, MER-C, involved in the hospital’s construction since 2011, has rejected these allegations.
