UN chief urges parties to honor truce

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his demand for all parties to the Gaza truce to implement the agreement in full and allow more humanitarian relief at scale amid reports that Israeli authorities were hindering medical and humanitarian operations.

"Since the October ceasefire agreement, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. I urge all to implement the agreement in full, comply with international law and allow unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief at scale," Guterres said in a post on X on Tuesday.

The UN chief reiterated his call for the two-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security as "the only viable path to a just & lasting peace".

"The occupation must end. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be realized. International law must be respected,"Guterres said.

During a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday, both leaders welcomed the launch of the second phase of the comprehensive peace plan for Gaza.

They also urged the international community to put pressure on Israeli authorities to guarantee the protection of civilians and comply with international law.

But in an update from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office under Benjamin Netanyahu and on the heels of Netanyahu's meeting with visiting US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday, Israel rejected the Palestinian Authority's role in the future of Gaza.

According to the statement, Netanyahu "reiterated the uncompromising demand for the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and the fulfillment of the war objectives prior to the reconstruction of the strip".

In the latest developments, at least 18 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. Eleven of those were killed in the al-Tuffah and al-Zaytoun neighborhoods of Gaza City, it said.

Israeli authorities also allegedly prevented patients and wounded individuals from traveling through the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza the same day, after the World Health Organization informed them of the cancellation of the third group's travel arrangements, Wafa news agency reported.

Raed Al-Nams, spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, told WAFA that the WHO office notified them of the cancellation, despite all procedures being completed and the patients being prepared at the Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis.

Al-Nams said since the crossing reopened on Monday, only 50 patients and wounded individuals, including their companions, have left.

Belal Alakhras, a research fellow at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, told China Daily that the normal passage of goods and people in and out of Gaza "is not a complex or neutral diplomatic issue".

"We should not simply normalize aggression and coercive politics as standard in international politics. The weaponization of basic necessities is being utilized by Israel to achieve what mass killings and destruction failed to accomplish in terms of erasing Palestinians from their land," said Alakhras.

Alarming behavior

"This behavior should alarm everyone; it is not a localized issue in Gaza, but a structural failure in how the world is governed. Rational powers must step forward not just to offer relief, but also to stop the consolidation of this dangerous trajectory. I am afraid, we risk a future in which these brutal actions become the norm," he added.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said on Wednesday that contrary to media reports in Gaza, the Rafah crossing "has opened this morning as usual, in accordance with the agreement and Israel's commitment".

"The World Health Organization, which is responsible for coordinating the arrival of residents from the Gaza Strip to the Rafah crossing, has not submitted the required coordination details at this stage for procedural reasons," COGAT said on X.

"Once the coordination details are submitted as agreed upon, the transfer of patients and their companions into Egypt via the Rafah crossing will be facilitated," it added.

The Israel Defense Forces also claimed ceasefire violations after an IDF reserve officer was severely injured "after terrorists opened fire on IDF troops in northern Gaza, during routine operational activity near the Yellow Line", the IDF said.

The Yellow Line is a notional demarcation boundary drawn under the US-sponsored Gaza ceasefire agreement. It defines the areas from which Israeli troops were to withdraw during the first phase of the truce.

jan@chinadailyapac.com