At meeting with Antony Blinken, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presses for immediate ceasefire

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, November 5

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told US State Secretary Antony Blinken that his administration would take care of Gaza if the need arose, but there must be an immediate ceasefire even as the Gaza health authorities claimed that 9,770 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes till Sunday.

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“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Abbas told Blinken. During their meeting in Ramallah on Sunday, Abbas told Blinken that the Palestinian Authority was the only representative of Palestinian people, and not Hamas.

Blinken reiterated that the US “remains committed to advancing equal measures of dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike”, according to an official statement. Hamas and the Al Fateh-led Palestinian Authority are bitterly opposed to each other. After defeating Al Fateh in the last elections held in 2006, Hamas had killed or expelled Mahmoud Abbas’ supporters from Gaza and tried to take over the administration.

Three Arab countries with stakes in the conflict—Qatar, Jordan and Egypt—had on Saturday appealed to Blinken for an immediate ceasefire. However, the US is in favour of short humanitarian pauses, but is still working out details with Israel on how to achieve this without benefiting Hamas.

On the other side, Tehran confirmed a statement by Hamas that its chief Ismail Haniyeh met Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Haniyeh “briefed Khamenei on the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza, as well as the developments in the West Bank”, said the Iranian media. Senior Hamas leaders had also met Iranian and Russian officials last week in Moscow.

The evacuation of foreigners and those badly injured from Gaza remained suspended following air strikes on a convoy of ambulances on Friday, which Israel claimed was ferrying Hamas militants. In a speech, the Palestinian Authority was also heard saying that Hamas militants had fled in ambulances.

Reports from Gaza narrated a desperate environment amidst the bombings and shortage of every essential for nearly one month due to Israel’s unyielding blockade.