Gaza, Smotrich: «Ultimatum to Hamas to disarm». IDF destroys tunnels in Rafah | EUROtoday

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“The situation in Gaza remains catastrophic. Palestinians continue to die due to Israeli fire, cold, hunger and treatable diseases”: mentioned the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, underlining in his speech on the opening of the 61st session of the Human Rights Council that the help getting into the Palestinian enclave “is not sufficient to satisfy the enormous needs”.

Turk then returned to specific the concern of “ethnic cleansing both in Gaza and in the West Bank, where Israel is accelerating initiatives to consolidate the illegal annexation”.

“Any sustainable solution must be based on two States living side by side in equal dignity and rights, in line with United Nations resolutions and international law,” he reiterated.

Smotrich: «In the subsequent few days ultimatum to Hamas to disarm»

“We have not given up on the destruction of Hamas. We are giving President Donald Trump the chance to do it his way. We believe that in the next few days Hamas will be given an ultimatum to disarm and completely demilitarize Gaza, and if it does not respect it, the IDF will receive international legitimacy and American support to do it on its own. The army is already preparing for this and is drawing up plans.” Ultra-right minister and cupboard member Bezalel Smotrich declared this this morning in an interview with the Israeli public TV channel Kan. In latest days the Israeli media have reported that the date for the beginning of Hamas’s disarmament has been set for the month of March, the demilitarization course of ought to start after the technical authorities of Gaza has begun its exercise and brought over the tasks from Hamas. Preparations are already seen on the bottom: native militias working in coordination with Israel have began to arrange accordingly, together with by recruiting new members and constructing bases in areas below their management within the Strip. In latest weeks, Israel has transferred further tools to the militias, together with rifles, weapons and trendy automobiles. Israeli safety sources level to the Rafah space, the place the brand new Palestinian metropolis (New Rafah) is predicted to be constructed, as the primary space to be demilitarized, an space below the management of the Abu-Shabab militia, which revealed over the weekend that its members are independently looking out and neutralizing Hamas tunnels.

IDF: one kilometer lengthy Hamas tunnel destroyed in Rafah

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have introduced that they’ve demolished a kilometer-long Hamas tunnel in Rafah, within the southern a part of the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, the tunnel contained a number of rooms the place Hamas brokers had been hiding. Inside, Israeli troops discovered a number of weapons. The tunnel was discovered on the Israeli aspect of the Gaza ceasefire line, in an space of ​​Rafah the place dozens of Hamas militants had hidden underground in the course of the Seventh Armored Brigade’s mopping-up operations. It was then razed to the bottom by the elite fight engineering unit Yahalom, the Times of Israel explains.