Saturday October 15, 2023

Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on October 7 that killed 1,300 people, sparking a retaliatory bombing campaign that has killed at least 2,215 in the Gaza Strip ahead of a potential Israeli ground invasion of the Palestinian coastal territory.

“Saudi Arabia has decided to pause discussion on possible normalisation and has informed US officials,” a source familiar with the discussions told AFP.

The Gulf kingdom, home to the holiest sites in Islam, has never recognised Israel and did not join the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords that saw its Gulf neighbours Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as well as Morocco establish formal ties with Israel.

US President Joe Biden’s administration had been pushing hard in recent months for Saudi Arabia to take the same step.

Under de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – known as MBS – Riyadh had laid out conditions for normalisation including security guarantees from Washington and help developing a civilian nuclear programme.

In an interview with Fox News last month, MBS said “every day we get closer” to a deal, though he also insisted the Palestinian issue was “very important” for Riyadh.

“We need to solve that part. We need to ease the life of the Palestinians,” he said.

News that normalisation discussions are now on hold comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to meet with his Saudi counterpart on Saturday, the latest stop on a six-nation tour of the region.

Diplomatic push
In the week since Hamas launched its attack on Israel, Riyadh has voiced increasing disquiet about the fate of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched thousands of strikes and ordered the evacuation of the territory’s north, prompting thousands to flee.

It has also publicised its diplomatic outreach “to stop the ongoing escalation”, contacting regional leaders across and beyond the region.

On Thursday, Saudi state media reported that MBS had discussed “the current military situation in Gaza and its environs” with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

It was the first call between the two men since their countries announced a surprise China-brokered rapprochement in March after seven years of severed ties.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia denounced the displacement of Palestinians within Gaza and attacks on “defenceless civilians”, its strongest language criticising Israel since the war broke out.

Riyadh “affirms its categorical rejection of calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza, and its condemnation of the continued targeting of defenceless civilians there”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Ikram Kouachi
Saturday October 14, 2023

The United States has asked Israel to delay its ground operation in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports.

“The United States has asked Israel to postpone its ground offensive until the establishment of a humanitarian corridor,” daily Jerusalem Post reported, citing the public Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

According to the report, “it was unclear what the Israeli response was to the request.”

The US has expressed strong support for Israel in fighting back against the Hamas group following its attack a week ago, but has also expressed concern for the humanitarian plight of the over 2 million residents of Gaza, where the attackers were based.

On Friday the Israeli military warned 1.1 million residents in northern Gaza to evacuate “within 24 hours” to the southern half of the strip.

The UN has warned it would be impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to obey the order without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

One week ago, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip in response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began last Saturday when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

That response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi