\n The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister on Thursday said Israel's offensive in Gaza was a \"war of revenge\", as he called for a ceasefire in the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n The visit of Riyad al-Maliki to the Hague comes as Israel said a column of tanks and infantry had launched an overnight raid into Hamas-controlled Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n It also comes as European Union officials in Brussels debated the situation and were set to call for \"humanitarian pauses\" in Israel's war with Hamas.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials. They are still believed to be holding more than 200 hostages.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since then, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's relentless retaliatory bombardments, mostly civilians and many of them children.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This time the war that Israel is waging is different. This time... it's a war of revenge,\" Maliki said in The Hague.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This war has no real objective than the total destruction of every livable corner in Gaza,\" Maliki told reporters at the Palestinian Authority's mission to The Hague.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said the need for a ceasefire was a top priority to get aid into Gaza, where the main UN agency warned Wednesday operations would cease as it was running out of fuel.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"First we need to end this aggression, this one-sided war and then we need to call for a ceasefire,\" he said, adding that \"a ceasefire is essential... for the distribution of humanitarian aid\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Humanitarian pauses' -\n<\/p>\n
\n But Maliki stressed that so-called \"humanitarian pauses\" would not alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n European Union leaders were set on Thursday to call for \"humanitarian corridors and pauses\" in order for aid to reach civilians in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n Maliki said he was not confident EU officials \"would go for a full cease-fire.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"But I am confident that they will have a very serious discussion and they will be able understand the difference between a humanitarian pause and a ceasefire.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"A humanitarian pause is not going to help in bringing in... the necessary distribution of such goods into Gaza.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Maliki also said the only long-term solution in the conflict would be a return to the two-state solution, the framework proposed for separate Israeli and Palestinian states.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It will be difficult, but not impossible to go to the two-state solution. But what is the alternative?\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We don't have an alternative.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n On Wednesday, Maliki met top officials at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, including its chief prosecutor Karim Khan.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The situation in Gaza is so dangerous now that it needs immediate intervention by the (ICC) prosecutor,\" Maliki said, accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Palestinian Authority was \"working with the ICC prosecutor\", he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Palestinians have made a second submission to the UN's highest International Court of Justice, which is also based in The Hague, he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN's general Assembly has asked the ICJ's judges for an advisory legal opinion on Israel's occupation in Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister on Thursday said Israel's offensive in Gaza was a \"war of revenge\", as he called for a ceasefire in the conflict. The visit of Riyad al-Maliki to the Hague comes as Israel said a column of tanks and infantry had launched an overnight raid into Hamas-controlled Gaza. It also comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-123773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n