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GAZA: Zionist troops battled Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with no sign of a let-up in the war despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire”. The resolution was adopted on Monday after the Zionist entity’s closest ally the United States abstained amid growing concern for the worsening humanitarian situation after nearly six months of war.

The text demands an “immediate ceasefire” for the ongoing holy month of Ramadan, leading to a “lasting” truce. It also demands that Hamas and other fighters free captives they took during the unprecedented Oct 7 attacks on the Zionist entity, though it does not directly link the release to a truce.

In Gaza, there was intense fighting overnight, with Zionist operations in and around at least three major hospitals in the besieged territory. The health ministry in the territory said 70 people were killed early Tuesday, 13 of them in Zionist air strikes around the southern city of Rafah. The Zionist military said air raid sirens sounded in areas near the Gaza border.

The Security Council resolution was the first since the Gaza war erupted to demand an immediate halt in the fighting. After the vote, UN chief Antonio Guterres led calls for the resolution to be implemented. “Failure would be unforgivable,” he said on social media platform X.

The Zionist entity reacted furiously to the US abstention, while Washington insisted that it did not mark a shift in policy, although it has taken a tougher line with the Zionist entity in recent weeks.

The United States had previously vetoed successive draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire, but it has become increasingly concerned by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of famine in the north by May if urgent action isn’t taken. The Gaza health ministry said seven people had drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach aid airdropped into the territory.

Washington has also balked at the Zionist entity Prime Minister Benjamin’s determination to launch an assault on Rafah, the last major population center still untouched by Zionist ground troops where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from the fighting. In protest at the United States’ abstention in the UN vote, which it said “hurts” both its war effort and attempts to release captives, the Zionist entity cancelled a planned visit to Washington by a high-ranking delegation.

The Zionist entity’s campaign against Hamas has killed at least 32,333 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry. Hamas welcomed the Security Council resolution and reaffirmed its readiness to negotiate the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by the Zionist entity. In a statement, the militant group blamed the Zionist entity for the failure to make progress in the latest round of talks hosted by mediator Qatar.

Hamas said Netanyahu and his cabinet were “entirely responsible for the failure of negotiation efforts and for preventing an agreement from being reached up until now”. Netanyahu’s office hit back on X, charging that Hamas was “not interested in continuing negotiations” as it had been emboldened by the Security Council vote.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, state media reported. It is Haniyeh’s second visit to key backer Iran since the start of the war. Haniyeh said the Zionist entity is experiencing “unprecedented political isolation”. “Although this resolution came late and there may be some gaps that need to be filled, the resolution itself indicates that the (the Zionist entity) occupation is experiencing unprecedented political isolation,” Haniyeh told a news conference in Tehran.

He added the Zionist entity is “losing political cover and protection even in the Security Council” and “the US is unable to impose its will on the international community”. Haniyeh was accompanied by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who made no comment during the press conference.

In the occupied West Bank, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She welcomed the Security Council resolution and said it was “in the absolute interest of the people of Israel that we come to a ceasefire now so that the hostages can be released.”

On the ground in Gaza, the fighting raged on unabated. Dozens of Zionist tanks and armored vehicles surrounded the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where thousands of displaced people have sought refuge, witnesses said. The health ministry said shots were being fired around the sprawling complex, but no raid had yet taken place.

At Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, Zionist troops have been involved in heavy fighting for the past nine days. And on Monday, the Zionist military raided Al-Amal Hospital, also in Khan Yunis. Aid agencies have voiced concern for non-combatants caught up in the fighting. Palestinians living near Al-Shifa have reported corpses in the streets, constant bombardment and the rounding up of men who are stripped to their underwear and questioned.

Palestinians in Rafah welcomed the UN vote and called on Washington to use its influence with Israel to ensure the resolution is implemented. Bilal Awad, 63, said Washington must “stand against an attack on Rafah, and support the return of the displaced to their cities”. Ihab Al-Assar, 60, expressed hope that “(the Zionist entity) will comply” with the Security Council text.

The fighting came as an independent UN-appointed expert, Francesca Albanese, said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” the Zionist entity’s actions in Gaza had met the threshold for “acts of genocide”. The Zionist entity rejected Albanese’s report, due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, as an “obscene inversion of reality”. – AFP

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