Gaza: Israel came under heavy pressure from the US yesterday to curtail civilian deaths after concluding its forces were likely to have been behind the shelling of a
UN school.
In the strongest condemnation of Israel since the Gaza conflict began, President Barack Obama’s press secretary, Josh Earnest, called the attack “totally unacceptable” and “totally indefensible”. He added that the administration was urging Israel to do more to avoid civilian deaths and said US officials were taking issue with “specific military decisions” by Israel. “It is clear that we need our allies in Israel to do more to live up to the high standards they have set themselves.”
The EU issued a similar statement.
US officials had initially declined to apportion blame for the shelling, even though the UN said all the evidence pointed to Israel. Yesterday, after Israel said it was possible that “stray Israeli fire” had hit the school and killed 16 Palestinians, the White House shifted its stance.
The angry words from Washington came as Palestinian leaders prepared to hold talks in Egypt on a short ceasefire they hope will help end the three-week Israeli offensive, which has now killed around 1,400 people in Gaza. Prospects for success look deeply uncertain, but Israel signalled that it could stop fighting without any agreement.
Disagreements were reported yesterday over the composition of a Palestinian delegation before the negotiations in Cairo, with Hamas officials insisting there would be no truce until there was an agreement to lift the seven-year blockade of the coastal territory by Israel and Egypt.
But there were also signs of possible readiness for a deal as Mahmoud Al Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, declared: “The Palestinian people will be marking their victory in the very near future.” Khalil Al Haya, another Hamas official, said that if Israel wanted a way out of the crisis it had to accept Palestinian terms.
The team is likely to be headed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, along with other officials of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Islamic Jihad, another militant Gaza faction, will also be represented.
Asharq Al Awsat, a Saudi-owned paper, reported that the intention was to work towards a three-or five-day ceasefire to be followed by negotiations in Cairo on a permanent agreement.
In Israel, attention focused on military operations in Gaza, the funerals of the latest of the 56 soldiers who have been killed, and the rockets that were still being fired from the enclave despite Israeli claims that the Palestinian arsenal had now been heavily depleted.
THE GUARDIAN
