MOSCOW, December 13 The US continues to give the green light for the war in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian Hamas movement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Ben-Dor said in an interview with Arab World Press.
Previously, US President Joe Biden said that the Israeli government is losing international support and must change to maintain it.
“We must pay attention to the full rhetoric of the US administration as it continues to give a clear green light to Israel in this war against terrorism in Gaza, and it provides Israel with all the necessary means of fighting,” Ben-Dor said.
< br>He also stressed that the United States proceeds from the fact that any discussion of the future administrative structure in Gaza will be impossible without the elimination of Hamas.
The representative of the Israeli Foreign Ministry also commented on the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as well as the release of all hostages without preconditions.
«Even if there are Western countries voting against Israel in the General Assembly, behind the scenes they agree with we need to eliminate the military and terrorist system of the Hamas organization in Gaza,” Ben-Dor noted.
On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization’s fighters entered the border areas in southern Israel, where they opened fire on both military and civilians, and also took more than 200 hostages. In Israel, according to the latest government data, about 1.2 thousand people were killed, this number includes civilians, soldiers, foreign citizens and workers, and it was also reported that more than 5 thousand were injured.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped.
At the end of October, the ground phase of the Israeli operation in the enclave began. Gaza City was surrounded by Israeli ground forces, and the enclave was effectively divided into southern and northern parts.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli strikes has exceeded 18 thousand people, and more than 50 thousand have been injured. Hamas claimed that there were about 200-250 hostages in the Gaza Strip. After the end of the truce, the Israeli authorities announced that 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners remained hostage with Hamas, 110 abducted were released.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, associated with the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and fighting in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created.