Politics around the world is evolving in ways that both leaders and analysts are finding difficult to assess and respond to. Politicians are scrambling to sustain support as new entrants make inroads into constituencies that have lost faith in the established order. It is in this melee of the old and the new that the grammar of today’s politics is charting a course of its own. Globally, the political elites have never seemed so out of touch as they seem today, unable to respond to the challenge from their streets.

In just the last few days, US President Joe Biden’s credibility saw a free fall, while the UK booted out an accidental, out-of-touch Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and ushered in the Labour Raj at a time when the rest of Europe is moving to the right. The French have given a mandate to the Far Right. Nine months after the terror attacks of October 7, Israel is facing a civil war-like situation, with people demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation even as the nation remains in a state of war on multiple fronts. In Iran, Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian found himself elected as the nation’s new president, beating his hardline conservative rival Saeed Jalili by securing around 53.3% of votes, nine percentage points more than Jalili.

Also Read | Rishi Sunak: For Whom Everything That Could Go Wrong, Went Wrong

A Reformist In Iran, ‘Changemaker’ In UK

Different nations, different challenges, different political arcs, but all facing a moment of political reckoning. Ironically, it is Iran where the recent change of leadership holds the most promise. This is not the first time a reformist has come to power in Iran in a system that has been dominated by the “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since 1989. The conservatives have controlled all the levers of power and have managed to scuttle earlier reformists like Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani. However, there has been a growing disillusionment with the ruling elites. By criticising Iran’s morality police and promising “unity and cohesion”  as well as an end to Iran’s “isolation” from the world, Pezeshkian talked in a language that appealed to those who want normalcy in a nation that has been on the edge of a precipice for years now.

Rishi Sunak, on the other hand, was not only bogged down by the legacy of his predecessors who had made a mockery of public mandates, but he was also unable to soothe the British public struggling with rising costs of living and a crumbling public services infrastructure. The Conservative Party imploded, and Sunak’s leadership never managed to rise to match the needs of today’s Britain. And so, the Labour Party ended up getting a landslide even without increasing its vote share, thereby taking the United Kingdom in a direction opposite to the rest of Europe, where the Right is ascending.

Close Shave For Macron

In France, President Emmanuel Macron had to call a snap election fearing the resurgence of the nation’s far-right party, the National Rally (RN). Only a last-minute, left-wing tactical adjustment could prevent an outright landslide for the RN. But this should be seen as just a consolation prize, as the RN has greatly increased its representation in Parliament. 

Also Read | Disaster Averted, But Macron Still Faces Big Challenge Ahead

Separately, last month, the European Union elections saw a resurgence of the right in ways few had anticipated, and the triumph of Eurosceptic parties will have serious long-term consequences for the ability of the 27-member bloc to work cohesively.

Concerns About Biden

The world’s eyes, however, are now on the leadership contest in the US, where two old white men are busy damaging the brand of American democracy. Donald Trump, under whose presidency the foundations of the American democratic institutional fabric came close to collapsing, continues to be ahead in the presidential race, as the base of the Republican Party continues to move to the right. Trump’s supporters still view him as an anti-establishment candidate and despite facing a number of charges in the courts, he is hailed as a victim. His greatest advantage is that he has his primary opponent in President Joe Biden, who, after a disastrous debate performance, is having a difficult time convincing his own party about his candidacy. 

Also Read | “He Looks Different”: Wild Theories Over Joe Biden’s Appearance

Old templates no longer apply to the new political climate, where fast-evolving aspirations demand a change in the status quo. Back home in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third consecutive victory and Indian democracy’s continuing resilience underscores the Indian electorate’s ability to make nuanced choices even as the world around it undergoes a dramatic shift. Even so, this global churn has a lesson for Indian political leaders and the larger system.

(Harsh V Pant is Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at ORF.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

“When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organisations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a “fool” who should lose their job.

Divisions Between Coalition, Army

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

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

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a “definite need” to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

Reservists Under Strain

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government’s aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu’s government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The International Court of Justice, on May 24, ruled that Israel must immediately stop its military offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, where over 1.4 million Palestinians, most of them displaced people, were camping. Two days later, Israel carried out devastating air strikes on Rafah, targeting tent camps of the displaced in areas that were designated as humanitarian corridors, killing at least 45 Palestinians, half of them children, women and older people, creating a global. Outrage.

Hello everyone, this is Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor

The Gaza war is in its eighth month. In January, while hearing a genocide case against Israel that was filed by South Africa, the ICJ, the United Nation’s top court, had asked Tel Aviv to take necessary measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. It was a momentous ruling, as The Hindu’s Editorial noted on January 29. But the ruling did not have any effect on the way the Jewish state is conducting the war.

On March 25, the UN Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. But Israel not just continued the war defying the UNSC resolution, but expanded it in May by invading Rafah, displacing the displaced again. 

The ICJ, which refused to order a ceasefire in January, came to the conclusion this month that the Rafah offensive could lead to a complete or partial destruction of the Palestinian population in the city. The court also asked Israel to keep the Rafah crossing with Egypt open for aid delivery and allow UN investigators to gather evidence about alleged war crimes, besides demanding an immediate release of all hostages.

The ICJ ruling came days after the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, claimed that Israeli and Hamas leaders had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, He has sought arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

None of these developments seem have to deterred Israel. If so, the May 26 Rafah massacre would not have taken place. The ICJ rulings are legally binding, but the world court lacks the mechanisms to implement them. In the 24 hours since the ICJ issued its ruling, Israeli air strikes killed at least 190 civilians across the Gaza Strip, pushing the overall toll since the war began to 36,000. Roughly 80,000 Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza’s population has been displaced. The enclave doesn’t enough food, medicines, shelter or medical facilities. And the hungry, sick, displaced and wounded Palestinians, who live in tent camps and UN shelters, continue to be bombed by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Is this way of fighting helping Israel meet its objectives? 

More than seven months after the war began, which was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 cross border attack on Israel in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Tel Aviv seems to be fighting in the dark. When it launched the war, Mr. Netanyahu said he would crush Hamas and release hostages. True, Israel possesses enormous fire power to inflict damage on Gaza and kill Palestinians sleeping inside their tent camps.

But has Israel defeated Hamas? 

Today, Israel is fighting Hamas even in northern and central parts of Gaza where it had earlier declared victory. That Hamas launched rockets into Tel Aviv over the weekend even after seven months of fighting in a besieged enclave raises serious questions about the way the war is being fought. At least 120 hostages, most of them feared dead, are still in Hamas’s captivity.

The war is marked not just by the incompetence of the Israeli Defence Forces but also its cruelty. Its disproportionate use of force on Gaza has turned the strip into a graveyard, as the UN termed it. The world cannot ignore the Palestine question any more and move on, having witnessed this calamity in Gaza and West Bank. Last week’s decision by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognise the state of Palestine shows how the line of thinking is changing even in the West.

The May 26 Rafah massacre has triggered sharp responses from world leaders, even from Israel’s allies. French President Emmanuel Macron was “outraged” by the attack. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the “barbaric” attack and vowed to hold Israel accountable. The U.S., Israel’s strongest ally, did not condemn the attack, but asked Israel to do everything to protect civilian lives.    

Mr. Netanyahu appears to be irrationally adamant today. His only focus is on a war that has done little to bolster Israel’s security. Israel has not met its military objectives; its deterrence has been broken twice — first by Hamas and then by Iran ; peace with Arabs stands shattered (Saudi Arabia today says “it is absolutely necessary that Israel accepts that it cannot exist without the existence of a Palestinian State”; it stands isolated in the world, there could be an arrest warrant against Ms netanyahu and Gollant in the coming days; and there IS a ruling by the ICJ against the way it is conducting the war.

As The Hindu noted in an editorial on May 27, by seeking to punish the entire Palestinian population in Gaza for what Hamas did on October 7, Mr. Netanyahu is rendering Israel’s global standing weaker.

Presentation & Script: Stanly Johny

Production : Gayatri Menon

Video: Thamodharan B

Children light candles during a march against Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the Mediterranean Sea corniche in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, May 27, 2024. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Monday that a “tragic mistake” had been made after an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and killed at least 45 people, according to local officials.

Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths.

Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israel’s military had earlier said that it launched an investigation into civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants.

Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Mr. Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament.

“We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” he said.

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighbourhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.” “We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.

In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details.

Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.

Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory.

Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.

Mr. Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he calls Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.

The strike on Rafah brought a new wave of condemnation, even from some of Israel’s close allies.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, in a TV interview, said such bombings are “spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren.” Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks.

Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.

Neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, also condemned the Rafah strike. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called it a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.” Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.” The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said such incidents occur “in a war of such scope and intensity.”

Speaking to an Israeli lawyers’ conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into incidents that aroused suspicions of international law violations, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected Palestinian militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of “violence, property crimes and looting” were also being examined.

Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a ruling that it has no power to enforce.

Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war.

Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war and says it faces an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.

Hamas triggered the war with its October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks, at a celebration for Jewish American Heritage Month, in the Rose Garden at the White House, in Washington, U.S., May 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

U.S. President Joe Biden strongly defended Israel on Monday, May 21, 2024, saying Israeli forces are not committing genocide in their military campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza in a rejection of criticism from pro-Palestinian protesters.

Also read: ICC seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Palestine; charges Hamas chief for Oct. 7 attack

“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Mr. Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.

Mr. Biden has faced protests at many of his events around the country from pro-Palestinian advocates who have labeled him “Genocide Joe” for his steadfast support for Israel.

In remarks at the White House event, Mr. Biden stressed his belief that Israel was the victim dating back to the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages.

He said U.S. support for the safety and security of Israelis is “ironclad.”

“We stand with Israel to take out (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas. We want Hamas defeated. We’re working with Israel to make that happen,” he said.

Negotiations have stalled between Israel and Hamas in trying to gain the freedom of sick, elderly and wounded hostages still held by the militants, but Biden vowed not to give up trying to gain their release.

“We’re going to get them home, we’re going to get ’em home, come hell or high water,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden has also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something that he reiterated in his commencement speech at Morehouse College on Sunday.

Mr. Biden also rejected the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for saying he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief over alleged war crimes

The ICC prosecutor on Monday also said he requested arrest warrants for Hamas chief Sinwar and two other Hamas leaders.

Mr. Biden in recent months has faced growing political pressure from his own party over his handling of the Gaza conflict, as the Palestinian death toll climbed to more than 35,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and Israel’s siege has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

New Delhi:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shut down talks of ceasefire negotiations, citing an unwillingness to comply with Hamas’s conditions for ending the conflict in Gaza.

Here are 10 points on this big story:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that the military would launch a ground offensive on Gaza’s far-southern Rafah city “with or without” a truce deal being negotiated with Hamas.

The hawkish premier issued the warning despite strong concerns raised by top ally Washington and hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to arrive in Israel on his latest Middle East crisis tour.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” said Netanyahu, who was vowed to destroy Hamas over their October 7 attack that sparked the deadliest ever Gaza war.

“We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory,” he told families of some of the hostages still being held in Gaza, his office said.

Netanyahu’s comments came as Hamas was weighing the latest plan for a truce proposed in Cairo talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators that had raised cautious hopes for an end to the fighting.

The Palestinian Hamas group said it was considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.

The Islamist group, whose envoys returned from Cairo talks to their base in Qatar, would “discuss the ideas and the proposal”, said a Hamas source, adding that “we are keen to respond as quickly as possible”.

Sources in Egypt earlier told Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services, that Hamas envoys were due to “return with a written response”.

An Israeli official told AFP the government “will wait for answers until Wednesday night”, and then “make a decision” whether to send negotiators to Cairo.

– ‘Only obstacle’ –

Washington has heightened pressure on all sides to reach a ceasefire — a message pushed by Blinken, who was on his seventh regional tour since the war broke out.

Blinken, who arrived in Jordan from Saudi Arabia and was later heading to Israel for talks with Netanyahu and other officials on Wednesday, described Israel’s offer as “extraordinarily generous”.

Washington has strongly backed its ally but also pressured it to refrain from a ground invasion of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians, and to do more to protect the territory’s 2.4 million people.

President Joe Biden, facing rising fury on US university campuses, urged the Egyptian and Qatari leaders Monday “to exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas”.

Biden called this “the only obstacle” to securing relief for Gaza’s civilians, who the UN has warned are on the brink of famine.

Anger about the unprecedented scale of Palestinian suffering has sparked weeks of large-scale protests at universities across the United States and elsewhere, including in France and Lebanon.

New York’s Columbia University, the epicentre of the US protest movement, began suspending student demonstrators on Monday after they defied an ultimatum to disperse.

– Children pulled from the rubble –

As diplomacy continued, Israel kept up its bombardment that has flattened swathes of Gaza.

An AFP correspondent reported several air strikes in Gaza City, Khan Yunis and Rafah as well as overnight artillery shelling.

The Israeli military said “fighter jets struck a number of terror targets in central Gaza”.

Palestinians in Rafah mourned the latest victims as children were being pulled from the rubble.

At Al-Najjar hospital, grief-stricken relatives jostled over the dead, whose bodies were shrouded in white.

“We demand the entire world call for a lasting truce,” said one bereaved relative, Abu Taha.

The war started after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Palestinian militants also took some 250 hostages on October 7. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead.

Unlike the group Netanyahu met with on Tuesday, which has advocated military action, many families of hostages have called on the government to secure their loves ones’ freedom in a truce deal.

At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Aviva Siegel — released during a November truce and whose husband Keith remains in Gaza captivity — urged “the leaders of the free world to help us bring our people home”.

– Post-war statehood? –

As the Gaza war has roiled the region and its human toll has sparked international outrage, political momentum has built in the search for a post-war solution to the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

European and Arab foreign ministers met in the Saudi capital on Monday to discuss how to join forces on advancing a two-state solution.

Netanyahu and many members of his hard-right government oppose Palestinian statehood.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he expected several European governments to announce their recognition of a Palestinian state within the next month, including Belgium, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia and Spain.

To provide Israel with an incentive to support a Palestinian state, Washington has pushed the prospect of normalised relations with Gulf kingpin Saudi Arabia, with Blinken suggesting that some progress was being made in that arena.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that irreversible steps towards establishing a Palestinian state would be an essential component of any lasting ceasefire.

China meanwhile said that rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah had met in Beijing recently for “talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation”.

Hamas seized sole control of Gaza in 2007, while Fatah maintains partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank through the Palestinian Authority.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said “the two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation”, without saying when they had met.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. President Joe Biden, center left, pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center right, in Tel Aviv, Israel. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

In separate strongly-worded posts on X (formerly Twitter), the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Cabinet Ministers have described any potential U.S. decision to impose sanctions on a unit of the Israel Defense Forces as the “height of absurdity”.

American media late on April 20 reported the U.S. State Department may announce sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda battalion of the Israel Defence Forces in the coming days, based on allegations of human rights violations in the West Bank.

Mr. Netanyahu, in his statement in Hebrew, said that he has held conversations with senior American government officials, “against the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens.”

“At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low.” Mr. Netanyahu added that his government will “act by all means against these moves.”

Ben Gvir, an ultra-orthodox right-wing politician who is Israel’s Minister of National Security, also took to X to state that any such move would be akin to crossing a red line. he also called on the Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to lend his support to the Netzah Yehuda battallion.

Israel’s Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich went a step further and called potential sanctions as “part of a planned move to force the State of Israel to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state and abandon Israel’s security.”

The reactions from the Israeli leadership follow the U.S. House of Representatives approved billions of dollars of additional military aid to its close ally as it continues its offensive in the territory of occupied Gaza. The U.S. State Department has not yet made any indications that it any plans to impose sanctions are in the works.

Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip Sunday, media reports said, in a partial withdrawal six months into the devastating war sparked by the October 7 attacks.

But the military said a “significant force” will keep operating elsewhere in the besieged Palestinian territory, able “to conduct precise intelligence based operations”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was just “one step away from victory” and vowed there would be no let-up in fighting until Hamas releases all hostages.

Speaking as new truce talks were due to be held in Cairo, he told his cabinet that “there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages. It just won’t happen.”

Netanyahu stressed that “Israel is ready for a deal, Israel is not ready to surrender”.

Air strikes kept pounding Khan Yunis and Rafah during the night, eyewitnesses said.

The army said it withdrew its forces from southern Gaza after months of fighting there left in ruins the city of Khan Yunis, hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

“The 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Yunis,” the army told AFP. “The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations.”

An army official told the Haaretz daily that the troops pulled out after they had “dismantled Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigades and killed thousands of its members.

“We did everything we could there.”

The news of the partial withdrawal came on the day talks towards a truce and hostage release deal were expected to resume in Cairo, including US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani will join Egyptian officials for indirect talks from Sunday between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News said.

Netanyahu had long threatened a ground offensive on far-southern Gaza’s Rafah city, sparking global concern, including from Israel’s top ally the United States.

Up to 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded into the area on the Egyptian border, many living in tents. Dozens left Rafah by foot, in cars and on donkey carts and returned to Khan Yunis on Sunday after the Israeli pullout, AFP images showed.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden — angered by an Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers of a US-based food charity — told Netanyahu he wants to see a ceasefire and hostage release deal and ramped-up aid deliveries.

Biden — whose government is Israel’s top arms supplier and political backer — also hinted at making US support for Israel conditional on curtailing the killing of civilians and improving humanitarian conditions.

‘Bodies under the rubble’

Several aid trucks on Sunday entered southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the drivers honking their horns as crowds ran after them, AFP TV footage showed.

Israel has faced a storm of international outrage over the killing of seven aid workers of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen in a Gaza air strike on April 1.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also demanded that “this terrible conflict must end”.

A Palestinian father-of-six in northern Gaza, Muhammad Yunis, 51, told AFP the territory’s 2.4 million people desperately need a reprieve from the bombardment and suffering.

“It’s been half a year and the bombing and starvation continue,” said the man from Beit Lahia, now a broken landscape of shattered buildings.

“Watching the thin bodies of our children takes away our souls … I feel helpless and humiliated,” he said.

“Isn’t the bombing, death and destruction enough? There are bodies still under the rubble. We can smell the stench.”

UNICEF chief Catherine Russell pointed out that more than 13,000 children were reportedly among those killed.

“Homes, schools and hospitals in ruin. Teachers, doctors and humanitarians killed. Famine is imminent,” she said on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.

“The level and speed of destruction are shocking. Children need a ceasefire NOW.”

Hospital an ’empty shell’

The Gaza war broke out on October 7 with an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 hostages, and 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, its people trapped in a dire humanitarian crisis amid an Israeli siege.

Gaza has received only sporadic aid via a road crossing with Egypt, airdrops and two sea shipments — and aid agencies warn the deliveries fall far short of the dire needs.

Under US pressure, Israel has pledged to allow for the first time aid deliveries through its Erez border crossing with northern Gaza.

Most of Gaza’s hospitals are out of action and the largest, Al-Shifa, is “now an empty shell with human graves”, said World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Mass protests

Netanyahu has meanwhile come under intense pressure at home from families and supporters of hostages, and from a resurgent anti-government protest movement.

Ten of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv and other cities Saturday, demanding “elections now”.

Among the protesters was Israel’s centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, who was later headed to Washington, his Yesh Atid party said.

Lapid was expected to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fierce critic of Netanyahu.

Fears that the war could spread have intensified after Iran vowed retaliation for the killing of seven Revolutionary Guards in an air strike last Monday on the consular annex of its embassy in Damascus.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency that “the embassies of the Zionist regime are no longer safe”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel was “one step away from victory” in the Gaza war and vowed there would be no truce until Hamas frees all hostages.

He was speaking in a cabinet meeting marking six months of the war that broke out on October 7 after an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

“We are one step away from victory,” Netanyahu said. “But the price we paid is painful and heartbreaking.”

Speaking as truce talks were expected to resume in Cairo with international mediators, he said: “There will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages. It just won’t happen.”

He stressed that “Israel is ready for a deal, Israel is not ready to surrender”.

“Instead of international pressure being directed at Israel, which only causes Hamas to harden its positions, the pressure of the international community should be directed against Hamas. This will advance the release of the hostages.”

Israel has faced a storm of international outrage over the killing of seven aid workers of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen in a Gaza air strike on April 1.

US President Joe Biden in a phone call with Netanyahu on Thursday demanded an “immediate ceasefire” and hinted at making US support for Israel conditional on curtailing the killing of civilians and improving humanitarian conditions.

Netanyahu meanwhile accused Iran of being behind several attacks against Israel “through its proxies”.

“Anyone who hurts us or plans to hurt us — we will hurt him. We put this principle into practice, all the time and in recent days,” Netanyahu added.

Fears that the war in Gaza could spread have intensified after Iran vowed to hit back for the killing of seven of its Revolutionary Guards in an air strike Monday on the consular annex of its embassy in Damascus.

Iran’s leaders have pledged retaliation, and the leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has called the consulate strike a “turning point”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)