UN security council is set to meet following Israel’s expanded ground operations in Gaza; Netanyahu says ‘second stage’ in the war has begun
The UN security council will meet on Monday following Israel’s expanded ground operations in Gaza, according to diplomats cited in a Reuters update. The United Arab Emirates asked the UN security council on Saturday to meet “as soon as possible” following Israel’s communication blackout across Gaza and its expanded ground operation.
Benjamin Netanyahu has told Israel that the military has opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea. The Israeli prime minister said the war would be “long and difficult”.
Netanyahu also said Israel was “ready to make sure that the murderers are going to pay the price for the massacre”, referring to the Hamas attacks of 7 October, and Israel was “going to abolish this evil in order to further all humanity”.
Tens of thousands marched through central London on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza with many also expressing fury at the UK government’s refusal to back one. As Israel ratcheted up its offensive, about 100,000 people attended the latest demonstration – matching the previous Saturday’s record turnout for a pro-Palestinian march in the UK.
Médecins Sans Frontières called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza “to prevent more deaths … and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in”. The medical NGO said: “We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza, as soon as the situation allows it. But if the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short.”
Elon Musk said he would provide the Starlink satellite service to “internationally recognised aid organizations in Gaza”. Musk made the announcement in response to New York’s Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s condemnation of Israel’s communications blackout in Gaza.
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said his office “will cut any ties with Starlink” following Elon Musk’s announcement. “Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them!”
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, met with the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas. Guterres said he expressed “our full gratitude, appreciation and support for Qatar’s tireless mediation initiatives, namely for the release of the hostages kept in Gaza”.
Hamas said it was trying to locate eight Russian-Israeli dual citizens among the more than 200 hostages captured during its 7 October attacks against Israel. “And when we find them, we will let them go,” senior Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzook said, according to RIA Novosti, a Russian state-run news service.
Hamas’s armed wing has announced it is ready to release hostages captured during the 7 October attacks in return for all Palestinian prisoners of Israel. “The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the [Israeli] prisons of all Palestinian prisoners,” Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a statement broadcast by the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel, Agence France-Presse reported.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has ordered the return of Israeli diplomats from Turkey following President Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in which he called Israel an “occupier”. Cohen tweeted on Saturday: “Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.”
