Israeli forces are firing heavily in a raid on al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis; Nasser and al-Amal hospitals are under Israeli military siege for days, Palestine Red Crescent Society reports. We have lost a health clinic, major shelters, facilities that were supporting the people of Khan Younis, says Thomas White, UNRWA’s director of Gaza affairs, as staff join thousands fleeing the city in southern Gaza.
To implement ICJ’s provisional measures there must be a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour tells UN Security Council. At least 27,000 people underwent killing and 66,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. Hamas’s political head will agree to a potential hostage deal if provides guarantees for an extended cease-fire.
Many want an end to the bloodshed and an end to the Gaza war. Chicago has become the latest city in the United States to call for a permanent ceasefire as Israel’s war on Gaza nears its four-month mark, placing more pressure on President Joe Biden before November’s election to help end the fighting.
Councilors in the US’s third largest city on Wednesday narrowly approved the nonbinding resolution 24-23, after weeks of rowdy public meetings. Mayor Brandon Johnson, who also had to clear temporarily the council chambers during the heated session, cast the tie-breaking vote.
Do I believe that the words that we speak, how we vote influences directly international policy? I do not. I do not have those illusions, but we vote with hope. We vote with solidarity. We vote to help people feel heard in a world of silence, says Alderman Daniel La Spata, one of the resolution’s sponsors.
Israeli assaults have shattered the Gaza Strip since Hamas fighters launched surprise attacks inside Israel on October 7 killing, mostly civilians. Israel retaliated with a ruthless air and ground offensive that has killed nearly 27,000 people, about 70 percent of them children, women, and the elderly, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The US under both Democratic and Republican presidents has been giving Israel $3.8bn in military aid annually, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs. However, in recent months, Israel’s relentless military campaign on Gaza has exposed deep divisions in the US amid growing anger over the Biden administration’s foreign policy.
The passing of the resolution means that Chicago has now followed cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco to be calling for a ceasefire. An analysis of city data this week showed that at least 48 US cities have adopted symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel’s Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace.
Most of the ceasefire resolutions have passed in Democratic states like California, though at least 14 have passed in swing states like Michigan that could be decisive in Biden’s re-election bid, most likely against Republican former President Donald Trump. At least nine of the ceasefire calls were in Michigan, where Arab Americans account for 5 percent of the vote and Biden’s 2020 margin of victory over Trump was less than 3 percent. Polls showed Biden’s support among Arab Americans had plunged.
Arab Americans will not vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. That is it. They are done with Biden, says Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner. That is the bottom line. Joe Biden is not going to be able to regain the trust of the Arab-American community, he says, reflecting the frustration of many members of the Arab-American community over Biden’s unwavering support for Israel.
The war is something that is going to be on voters’ minds in the upcoming election, says Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist in the swing state of North Carolina.
