The High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borelj, condemned today the "irresponsible and inflammatory" statements of two Israeli ministers who called on the Palestinians to leave Gaza.
Both Germany, France and the US have previously strongly criticized calls by two Israeli ministers to the Palestinians to leave Gaza.
"I strongly condemn the inflammatory and irresponsible statements of Israeli ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich who insult the Palestinian population in Gaza and call for a plan for their emigration," Borelj wrote on the X network.
It was a reference to Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and his far-right colleague Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
"Forced displacements are strictly prohibited and represent a serious violation of international humanitarian law, and words have meaning," Borelj added.
Ben Gvir, head of the far-right pro-settler party "Jewish Force" called on Monday for the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza after the current war and for the Palestinian population to be "encouraged" to emigrate, a day after a similar call by Smotrich.
Smotrich, head of the "Religious Zionism" party, which is part of the ruling coalition, on Sunday proposed the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war and assessed that the Palestinian population in that territory should be "encouraged" to emigrate to other countries.
(BETA)
The Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Filip Lazarini, criticized the "dehumanization" of Palestinians during the war.
"Gaza: three long months of brutal war, mass displacement, mass human losses and injuries, mass destruction. Unbearable suffering is aggravated by constant dehumanization and promotion of uncontrolled hate speech," Lazarini wrote today on the X platform.
At least 85 percent of Gazans have been displaced by Israeli military operations.
Hundreds of thousands have been forced to take shelter in overcrowded shelters or tents in areas that Israel has designated as safe, yet is bombing them.
A quarter of Gaza's 2,3 million people face starvation, according to the UN, and Israeli restrictions and fierce fighting are hampering aid deliveries.
More than 22.000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war against Israel on October 7, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Fierce fighting is taking place in the central and southern part of the Gaza Strip today, while fears of a regional escalation of the conflict are growing after an attack in Beirut that killed one of the top leaders of the Palestinian Hamas, according to the Associated Press.
Israel is widely blamed for the drone attack, but the consequences of that incident for the war are still unclear.
Israeli officials have not commented on the attack last night that killed Saleh Aruri, the highest-ranking Hamas official killed since the war began.
(BETA)
The Israeli military confirmed today that Israeli hostage Sahar Baruch, who was abducted during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on the 7th of October, was killed in a rescue operation in Gaza in December.
The army said it had informed the Baruch family that their son Sahar was killed in a special forces operation on December 8, but that at this stage it could not determine the circumstances of his death, or whether he was killed by Israeli forces or by Hamas.
On December 9, Hamas announced the death of the hostage during an army attempt to rescue him and a video of his remains.
The Hostage Families Association and Kibbutz Beri, where 25-year-old Sahar Baruch lived, confirmed his death.
Sahar's brother Idan was killed in Hamas attacks on October 7, and his parents and two brothers escaped the massacre in the kibbutz in which at least 85 people died.
In the attacks of Palestinian extremists, led by Hamas, on the south of Israel on October 7, around 1.140 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to France Presse data, based on Israeli information.
On that day, about 250 hostages were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, of which 129 are still in Gaza.
In the war that has been going on for almost three months, 22.313 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly women, children and minors, according to the latest report by the Hamas government.
(BETA)
A group of prominent Israelis has accused the judiciary of ignoring "numerous and obvious" calls for genocide and ethnic cleansing by influential public figures, it was announced today.
The letter to the attorney general and state prosecutors demands action to prevent the normalization of speech that violates Israeli and international law.
As noted, for the first time direct calls to commit horrific crimes against millions of civilians have become a legitimate and regular part of Israeli discourse.
"These kinds of calls are an everyday thing in Israel today," says the letter signed by top Israeli scientists, professors, former diplomats, parliamentarians, journalists and activists.
They are represented by human rights lawyer Mihael Sfard, and the 11-page letter lists several examples of "discourse on destruction, expulsion and revenge".
The list of Israelis who called for war crimes includes ministers, parliamentarians, former high-ranking military officials, as well as professors, media personalities, social media influencers and celebrities.
The statements of several deputies were quoted, one of whom, Yitzhak Kroizer, stated in a radio interview that "the Gaza Strip should be razed to the ground", and that "there is only one punishment for all of them there, and that is death".
Tali Gotliv of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud party called for him to use a nuclear bomb as a "strategic deterrent" before considering sending ground forces.
Another Likud lawmaker, Boaz Bismuth, recalled the biblical massacre of the enemies of ancient Israel and said that it is forbidden to be merciful to the cruel and that there is no place for any humanitarian gestures, alluding to Gaza.
Attorney Sfard said he was appalled at the speed with which calls for genocide and other extreme speech were normalized in Israel and added that he never imagined he would have to write such a letter, reports the British Guardian.
"The danger is first of all that people will act according to the speech, and then one should ask what kind of society we will be when it is the speech that governs our relationship with the Palestinians. There are 2,3 million residents of Gaza, most of them minors." , said the lawyer.
He warns that nothing has been done even in the most serious and dangerous cases of incitement to violence against the residents of Gaza, and that, on the other hand, "an intensive campaign against incitement (to violence) whose potential victims are Israeli Jews" has been launched.
A major effort was made to track down people for speeches the authorities interpreted as support for Hamas, and by the end of November 269 investigations had been opened and 86 indictments had been filed.
Genocide talk could affect the way the war is waged, he wrote in a letter sent before South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and when it was not known that it would do so.
The group represented by Sfard, however, does not accuse Israel of genocide, but the letter draws attention to calls for genocide.
She believes that the role of the Supreme Prosecutor is to make it clear that calls for genocide are unacceptable, and that the letter is intended to enable the authorities to do something about it.
The official response is considered particularly important as Israel faces grief and anger over "the unimaginable and unforgivable war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas on October 7."
(BETA)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told the delegation of the US Congress that the priority is to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a press release from the presidency.
Sisi stressed the importance of "responsible action" to avoid the spread of conflict in the region, the statement said, Reuters reports.
The international community must impose a solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, because both sides are unable to come to an agreement, said the high representative of the European Union for foreign policy and security, Josep Borelj.
"I believe that we have learned in these 30 years that the solution must be imposed from the outside, because the two sides will never be able to reach an agreement," Borelj said in Lisbon, as reported by Reuters.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it was "deeply" concerned about a possible escalation of the conflict in the region, which could have "devastating consequences" for civilians on both sides of the blue line.
"We continue to appeal to all parties to cease firing, and to call on all influential interlocutors to exercise restraint," the UN said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.
The blue line is the border separating Lebanon and northern Israel.
Germany, France and the US strongly criticized the calls of two Israeli ministers to the Palestinians to leave Gaza.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Sebastian Fischer, said today that Berlin, a close ally of Israel, "strongly" rejects those statements by ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, which are "not helpful".
He underlined the position of Germany and its allies from the "Group of Seven" (G7) that "there must be no expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza or territorial reduction of the Gaza Strip."
Berlin is in favor of a two-state solution - Palestine alongside Israel, which remains the only viable model for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace, Fischer said.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned Israel not to "even think" of forcibly evicting Gaza residents.
In a telephone conversation with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet, Macron said that such statements are unacceptable and contrary to the two-state solution, which is the only viable solution for the return of peace and security for all, his cabinet announced.
Macron warned of the risk of the conflict spreading, saying it was "essential to avoid any escalation, especially in Lebanon".
The administration of US President Joseph Biden also spoke out regarding the comments of two extreme right-wing Israeli ministers.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called their statements "inflammatory and irresponsible" in a statement.
Finance Minister Smotrich said on Sunday that Israel should "encourage migration" from Gaza and re-establish Jewish settlements in the territory.
Ben Gvir had similar statements about Palestinian resettlement.
(BETA)
The Palestinian Hamas Health Ministry announced today that 22.313 people have been killed in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7.
At least 128 people died in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.
The ministry also announced that 7 people have been wounded since October 57.296.
After the attack by Hamas in October, Israel announced that it had two goals, to destroy Hamas and free the hostages held by the extremists in Gaza.
(BETA)
The Israeli army is preparing for "every possible scenario" a day after an attack in the suburbs of Beirut in which another man of the Palestinian movement Hamas was killed, France Press reported citing official sources.
"The Israeli forces are in a very high state of readiness... in defense and in attack. We are fully prepared for any scenario. The most important thing is to say that we are focused and remain focused on the fight against Hamas," said Israel's military spokesman Daniel Hagari last night. .
Senior Hamas official Saleh Aruri was killed yesterday in Beirut, Hamas and Hezbollah confirmed.
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Lebanon's state news agency reported that Arouri and three other people were killed in an explosion caused by an Israeli drone.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh condemned the "violation of Lebanon's sovereignty" and the "expansion" of the war being waged in the Gaza Strip.
"The movement whose leaders and founders fall as martyrs for the dignity of our people will never be defeated," said Haniyeh.
Aruri, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, headed the group in the West Bank.
(BETA)
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