Israel-Hamas war: US warns against ceasefire

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Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesman, says a ceasefire in Gaza will allow Hamas to rest and prepare for future attacks against Israel.

Mr Miller, who spoke on Monday as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 5,000, described Israel’s situation as “intolerable” due to the “brutal attack” of October 7 and “ongoing threat” on its borders with Gaza and Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes have continued airstrikes in Gaza, killing at least 400 Palestinians in the last 24 hours, with 60 deaths in heavy overnight bombardments.

Since the cross-border attack by Hamas in southern Israel, the Jewish state has continued in its relentless bombing campaign with almost 2000 of those killed being children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Mr Miller also said that the US was “separately working” to ensure a flow of humanitarian relief into Gaza, with a US envoy, David Satterfield, on the ground working intensively on aid.

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expects leaders to support a call for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to arrive, stating this will facilitate the sheltering of displaced persons.

Hamas announced on Saturday that a convoy of 20 relief trucks containing food and medication arrived in the beleaguered Gaza Strip from Egypt.

Fear of escalation increased as Israeli warplanes targeted the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon, frequently engaging with Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that launching a war would be “catastrophic”, saying Israel will cripple it with a force it “cannot even imagine”, with “devastating consequences” for it and the Lebanese state.

Writing by Juliet Onwurah

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