Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The situation in Gaza, Palestine is getting worse. Most recently, the Israeli military said it had surrounded the enclave with its ground troops.
However, the United States (US) did not call for a ceasefire, as did 120 countries at the UN, last week. Israel’s ally instead voiced a “humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict”, Thursday evening (2/11/2023).
This was conveyed by a senior White House official, after President Joe Biden was urged by one of the citizens in a public appearance to call for a ceasefire in the war. “I think we need a pause,” Biden said.
Later, speaking to reporters, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby clarified what he meant by the pause. However, AFP emphasized that this was far from the generally requested ceasefire.
“The humanitarian pause… is temporary, localized and focused, focused on a specific goal or target, humanitarian aid goes in, people go out,” Kirby said.
“The general idea is that within that geographic area, for a limited time, there will be a cessation of hostilities, sufficient to allow whatever you allow,” he explained.
In fact, the White House had called for a similar “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to be sent to Gaza or to carry out evacuations. But it has so far refused to discuss a ceasefire, believing it would only benefit Hamas.
“We are not advocating a general ceasefire at this time,” Kirby said again.
“As I said before, we believe that a general ceasefire will benefit Hamas in giving them the space and time to continue planning and carrying out attacks against the Israeli people,” he added.
It is known that the war between Hamas and Israel has been approaching one month. During that time, Gaza, Palestine, was bombarded by Israel.
More than 8,500 Gaza civilians were killed, 3,000 of whom were children. Criticism continues to emerge from even countries, including cutting ties with Israel.
Countries Cut Off Relations
Meanwhile, many countries “raged” at Israel. Some withdrew ambassadors while others cut ties.
Bolivia firmly severed diplomatic relations, Tuesday local time. The reason is because of “crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people”.
The decision was announced by Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani and acting Bolivian Presidential Minister and interim Foreign Minister María Nela Prada, Tuesday. The announcement came one day after Bolivian President Luis Arce met with Palestinian Ambassador to Bolivia Mahmoud Elalwani.
Bolivia’s representative to the UN, Diego Pary, also reiterated his country’s stance at an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly. He said his country “stands with the rights of the Palestinian people.”
“The people and government of Bolivia have taken the decision to sever diplomatic relations starting today with the state of Israel because we consider it a state that does not respect people’s lives, international law or international humanitarian law,” said Pari, as quoted CNN International.
Apart from Bolivia, Chile and Colombia have reportedly recalled their ambassadors to Israel. The reason is that what Israel did to Gaza was massacre of Palestinians.
“If Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people, we cannot be there,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post on social media X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Given Israel’s unacceptable violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Gaza Strip, the Chilean government has decided to recall Chile’s ambassador to Israel, Jorge Carvajal, to Santiago for consultations,” the Chilean Foreign Ministry said.
Jordan also did the same thing. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said he was recalling the ambassador to Israel and refusing to re-enter the Israeli ambassador there.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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