Humanitarian Ceasefire in Israel-Gaza Conflict
Israel is open to tactical little pauses in Gaza to allow for things like humanitarian goods to enter and hostages to leave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, but only for an hour here or an hour there, as the government remains opposed to a ceasefire, despite recent calls for the UN for an immediate end to the fighting. Netanyahu said there will be no cease fire, no general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages. The comments come as the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, warned that the Gaza Strip was becoming a graveyard for children, adding that more journalists have reportedly been killed over a four week period than in any conflict in at least three decades, and more UN aid workers have been killed than in any comparable period in the history of our organization. Gaza's Hamas run health ministry says the number of Palestinians killed as a result of Israel's bombardment of Gaza has now surpassed 10,000, more than 4100 of which have been children. While a lot of focus has been on the immediate situation in Gaza Benjamin Netanyahu was asked in an interview about the future of Gaza, specifically, who should govern the territory of some 2 million Palestinians if Israel is successful at eliminating Hamas? Netanyahu said, I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility, because we've seen what happens when we don't have that security responsibility.
Israeli forces have effectively surrounded Gaza City, located in the north of the strip, ahead of an anticipated storming of the city. Israeli authorities told Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza that they had a four hour window on Tuesday to leave and head to southern Gaza, adding that the window would be repeated each day. According to a US envoy on Saturday, there were between 350,000 and 400,000 people still in northern Gaza. Today also marks exactly one month since Hamas's October the 7th attack on Israel, which killed more than 1400 people and resulted in more than 240 being taken hostage by Hamas militants. So far, five hostages have been freed, four released by Hamas and one rescued during the Israeli ground assault. Meanwhile, there's been a flurry of diplomacy with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after a whirlwind tour of Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Though seemingly with little tangible results on his priorities of the need to protect civilians and increase humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Pressing for the release of hostages and preventing the conflict from expanding to the wider region.
PM Attempts to Form Goverment in Poland
Polish President Andrzej Duda has handed his incumbent National Law and Justice Party the first attempt at forming a government following last month's parliamentary election, which saw a group of opposition parties win a majority. Duda explained his decision by saying he was following the parliamentary tradition that the winning party is given the first mandate to form a government. Law and justice did win the most seats and are the largest party in parliament, but are unable to put together a majority, even with the help of the far right Confederation Party. Realistically, the only grouping in Parliament able to form a majority is one comprising Donald Tusk's centrist civic coalition, the liberal Third Way Alliance and the left. The three opposition party leaders appealed to President Duda to give ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk the mandate of forming a government, but he rejected those calls. While Donald Tusk is likely to end up as prime minister again, it may not be for some time yet. Parliament will reconvene on November the 13th, after which incumbent Prime Minister Morawiecki has two weeks to present a government and win a confidence vote after his anticipated failure. Tusk will then have his own turn, likely in early December, as the parliament can then propose its own candidate.
UN Peacekeepers Attacked
In other news, dozens of United Nations peacekeepers have been injured by improvised explosive devices in Mali while they pull out of bases in the north of the country. 22 people were injured by the two explosives that hit the convoy, according to the UN, who said it was the sixth such incident since UN peacekeepers began to evacuate their base in Kidal on October the 31st and al Qaeda linked group, called the Jnim, claimed responsibility for two of the earlier attacks. The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as Minusma, is coming to an end after Mali's military junta that took power in a 2021 coup ordered the UN's forces to leave the country in June this year. The UN Security Council subsequently terminated the mission and began a withdrawal process that is set to wrap up by December 31st. Launched back in 2013, the Minusma's mission was one of the UN's most dangerous peacekeeping missions, with more than 300 members killed over the course of the ten year mission. Mali's security situation is deteriorating as its military rulers struggle to battle an ongoing Islamist insurgency plaguing the wider region, but also face a renewed conflict with Tuareg rebels in the north of the country, who claim to have taken over the camp, now evacuated by the UN.
Myanmar Rebels Seize Capital
Over in Myanmar, resistance fighters have captured a district capital in the north of the country, marking the first time that rebels have seized an administrative capital from the military since the coup of February 2021. The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the February 2021 coup that saw the military overthrow the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, returning the country to military rule after a brief period of democratic transition. The crisis soon escalated into a fully fledged armed conflict, pitting the ruling military against the exiled opposition National Unity Government and its Peoples Defence Forces alongside various ethnic armed groups, many of whom have been effectively fighting the state for greater autonomy since Burmese independence in 1948. On Monday, fighters from local ethnic groups and the People's Defence Force managed to seize the call in district capital. It comes after an alliance of groups a couple of weeks ago launched operation 1027, a big anti-regime push in the northern part of the neighbouring Shan State, which in just a couple of days saw them take dozens of military outposts, crucial transit locations and also capture the town of Chin Schwanau, a key trade point right on the border with China.