Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, asked what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any. Saar made the comment to reporters following a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington that the foreign minister described as “very good”.
Meanwhile, Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday called on the government to begin annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Palestinian militant group Hamas stands by its refusal to lay down its weapons.
16 killed in Gaza
Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local medics said, as residents reported that Gaza City suburbs were under intensifying bombardment.
The Israeli military is preparing to seize Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to desist over fears that a ground offensive would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there.
In Gaza City residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israeli forces shelled the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. Thursday’s deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said.
‘Gaza at breaking point’
Cindy McCain, the head of the UN’s World Food Programme warned on Thursday that famine-hit Gaza is “at breaking point”, appealing for the urgent revival of its network of 200 food distribution points.