Pro-Palestinian demonstrators close down the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, Monday.
Pressure grew on Israel Monday from its staunch ally the United States and from Middle East powers to ease up on its assault on Gaza as its forces inflicted the highest daily Palestinian death toll so far this year in the war against resistance movement Hamas. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting the region in a bid to prevent the conflict – now entering its fourth month – from turning into a regional conflagration. He was due to arrive in Israel late Monday after a day meeting Gulf Arab leaders. Israeli officials have said they are entering a new phase of more targeted warfare after the mass bombardments that have laid waste to the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 23,000 people. But there was no respite Monday. Israeli forces bombarded the eastern part of the southern city of Khan Younis and the central Gaza Strip amid ground clashes, residents said. They said a strike in Deir Al-Balah had killed 18 people overnight and four on Monday, while health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said 247 people had been killed overnight. The Israeli offensive has so far killed 23,084 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, while Israel says Hamas still holds more than 100 hostages. Hamas’s military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters fired a missile barrage at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv in response to what it called the “Zionist massacres against civilians”. Blinken held talks in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia Monday to try to chart a way forward in the bloodiest chapter ever of the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman stressed the importance of stopping the hostilities in Gaza and forming a path for peace, Saudi state news agency SPA reported. Meanwhile US President Joe Biden, confronted by protesters shouting “Ceasefire now” while he visited a church in Charleston, South Carolina, said he had been working “quietly” with the Israeli government to encourage it to reduce its attacks and “significantly get out of Gaza”. Blinken said he would tell Israeli officials in their meetings that they must do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell joined Blinken in Saudi Arabia, a sign of international concern. Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Monday that “indiscriminate aggression” and shelling could never bring peace or security. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes at least once and many are now moving again, often sheltering in makeshift tents or huddled under tarpaulins.
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