Tuesday, March 26

US President Biden Wants Ceasefire Between Israel and the Palestinians

As violence continues between Israel and the Palestinians, US President Joe Biden has first expressed support for a ceasefire in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Israel, meanwhile, has temporarily opened a border post for humanitarian aid to Gaza. In protest against the Israeli bombing, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and cities and towns in Israel hold a general strike.

US President Joe Biden first expressed his support for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians but did not demand an immediate end to the violence. Biden did stress that Israel has the right to defend itself when missiles are fired.

Moments later, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on television that attacks against Hamas targets and leaders would continue to “restore peace and security to all residents of Israel.”

Gaza was also awakened this morning by bombing. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Israeli airstrikes damaged a medical laboratory, preventing corona tests or vaccinations.

In Gaza City, a six-story apartment building, which housed libraries and study halls of the Islamic University, was also severely damaged.

In protest against the Israeli bombing of Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and cities and towns have declared a general strike today. The strike is backed by both Hamas, the radical Islamist movement that runs Gaza, and its secular rival, Fatah, which controls the West Bank.

Ministries and schools in the West Bank are closed today. Also, many shops, both in the West Bank and Gaza and in cities and towns in Israel, do not open their doors.

The Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and the Hamas rocket attacks have now been going on for eight days and have claimed the lives of more than 200 people, mainly on the Palestinian side.

For the first time since the violence flared up on May 10, fewer victims last night. As far as it is clear, there have been no fatalities.

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