Jerusalem: As Israeli troops battled militants across Gaza on Wednesday, including in the southern city of Rafah, Israel said its troops identified fighters in the central logistics compound of the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA near Rafah and has demanded an explanation. The location of a video released by the Israeli military was verified by Reuters but the time and identities of the men seen in the footage were not known.
"The UN has in part become a terrorist entity in itself because it cooperates with Hamas and covers for it," Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan told Army Radio. He later said on X that the UN not only "collaborates with terrorists, but its facilities in Gaza are terror compounds" and demanded UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres address the matter.
UNRWA has denied cooperating with Hamas. A UNRWA spokesperson said the agency could not verify the authenticity or content of the video or the exact timing or location, but it was likely that the video showed a UNRWA warehouse in Rafah that staff left in the week of May 6. Moreover, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the men were there to protect aid distribution.
"These are false allegations and lies. This is a police force tasked with securing aid centres against acts of theft and looting," Abu Zuhri told Reuters. Meanwhile, the UN is investigating a strike on a car in Rafah this week that killed its first international staff member since October 7, a retired Indian army officer en route to the European Hospital. It blamed tank fire in an area where only Israeli tanks were present.
The Israeli military said an initial inquiry had concluded the vehicle, whose route it was unaware of, had been hit in an active combat zone and the incident was under review. Some 254 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began, including 191 UN staff.
Ceasefire talks at stalemate as Israel pushes ahead
As the fighting intensifies, ceasefire talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt are at a stalemate, with Hamas demanding a permanent end to attacks and Netanyahu's government saying it will not stop until the group is annihilated. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel on Wednesday for a deadlock in Gaza ceasefire negotiations and reiterated key demands including that any agreement provide a framework for a permanent end to Israel's offensive in the enclave.
"They also introduced amendments to the proposal that put the negotiation into a deadlock," said Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, in a televised speech. Haniyeh said his group was determined to pursue all available ways to end the war in Gaza, leaving the door open to more mediation efforts, but he held to the group's key demands.
Israeli forces have in recent days pressed into the east of Rafah in pursuit of what they say are four Hamas battalions despite warnings by Israel's main ally, the United States, to hold off to avoid mass civilian casualties. The US has sought a clear post-war plan for Gaza from Israel, a position that Secretary of State Antony Blinken underlined by saying neither Israeli occupation nor Hamas governance was acceptable.
Netanyahu faces challenge from cabinet
"We also can't have anarchy and a vacuum that's likely to be filled by chaos," Blinken said during a visit to Ukraine. The remarks drew an apparent Israeli riposte, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying post-war planning was impossible without first completing the demolition of Hamas.
Netanyahu was later publicly challenged over post-war plans for Gaza by his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, who said he had tried to promote a blueprint for an alternative Gaza administration made up of Palestinians, but "got no response" from various decision-making cabinet forums under Netanyahu. "I call on the prime minister to announce that Israel will not rule over Gaza militarily," Gallant said. "An alternative to Hamas governance should be established"
In an apparent response, Netanyahu said any move to establish an alternative to Hamas as the government of Gaza required that the Palestinian Islamist group first be eliminated, and demanded this goal be pursued "without excuses". He also said that he won't allow "Hamastan" to be replaced with "Fatahstan", as per The Times of Israel.
Since Hamas' October 7 attack, Israel's Gaza offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, with at least 82 killed on Tuesday in the highest single-day toll for weeks. With fighting picking up across Gaza, residents said Israeli tanks had destroyed clusters of homes in the northern Jabalia district but faced heavy resistance from Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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