Bid to ease tensions speeds up

Death toll from clashes nears 1,400 as Israel declares 'state of war' with Hamas

As both battles and death toll escalated between Hamas and Israel, Arab leaders and the international community are moving in to ease tensions, while analysts urged parties not to lose sight of efforts to find a comprehensive and just solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Even as the Israeli parliament greenlighted the administration's declaration of "a state of war" with Hamas, the current conflict, which claimed lives and inflicted injuries on both sides, focused on Israel and Hamas but divided the world further.

After getting caught off guard on Saturday, the Israeli army responded fast and deadly and continued its extensive airstrikes on targets in Gaza while moving to clear off Hamas militants from positions, with death tolls from both sides nearing 1,400.

Zaka, an Israeli rescue service, said in a statement that it collected remains of about 260 young women and men who were partying at the Nova festival, an outdoor music event in a rural farmland area near the Gaza-Israel fence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday to "change the Middle East" in Israel's fight with Hamas.

"What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible ... we are going to change the Middle East," Netanyahu told officials visiting Jerusalem.

According to the official "X" account, formerly Twitter, of the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, its minister Riyad Al-Maliki was in communication with his Arab counterparts to provide the required political support "in the face of the continuing Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip".

The Palestinian Authority submitted a memorandum on Sunday, calling for an emergency Arab League meeting at the foreign ministerial level, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The date for the emergency Arab ministerial meeting is supposed to be set within the next two days at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly had phone conversations with Palestinian resistance leaders over the latest developments in Palestine, IRNA reported.

There are accusations that Iran was involved in the planning of Hamas' attack. But Iran's mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that Teheran was not involved.

A statement from Morocco's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the meeting came under the instructions of King Mohammed VI and sought to coordinate and consult on the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip and the outbreak of military actions targeting civilians, as well as to explore ways to halt the dangerous escalation.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The two discussed the dangers of the continuing military escalation in Gaza and its surroundings, and the importance of working to defuse tensions.

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said on Monday that regional governments did not want the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spill out into other parts of the region.

European Union Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said on Monday the bloc is suspending "all payments immediately" to the Palestinians because of the attacks.

The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords signed in 2020, released a statement late on Sunday, stressing that the attacks by Palestinian resistance group Hamas against Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza Strip were "a serious and grave escalation" and that it was "appalled by reports that Israeli civilians have been abducted as hostages from their homes".

Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, reiterated his call to international institutions to intervene forcefully and promptly to revive efforts to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate rights in establishing their state on the 1967 territories with East Jerusalem as its capital, in order to achieve the desired peace and stability in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Protection for civilians

"Civilians on both sides must always have full protection under international humanitarian law and must never be a target of conflict," the statement read, adding that the UAE remains in close contact with its partners to return to negotiations within the parameters of the two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis, "who deserve to live in peace and dignity".

Given the hostilities affecting civilians, Kamaruzaman bin Yusoff, a Middle East analyst and former dean of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Faculty of Islamic Civilization, told China Daily that "we should not consider the current escalation of war and hostilities between the Palestinian people and the Israeli government as the first and the last".

He said these are considered "as part of the long processes of attacks, conflicts, hostilities between the two parties".

Hamas said its offensive by land, air and sea was in response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as Israeli atrocities against Palestinians over the decades.

Israeli analysts say Hamas has carefully planned the military operation. Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, told Xinhua News Agency that Hamas' preparation for the military operations is "estimated to have taken several months".

The latest assault occurred around the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war, when Israel was attacked on Oct 6, 1973, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

Jasim Husain, a Gulf analyst and former member of Bahrain's parliament, told China Daily that the conflict "is now being termed Hamas-Israel conflict", which does not include the whole resistance movement.

"This conflict could have some major repercussions on the peace process in the region," he added.

Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and Palestinian researcher at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, told China Daily that considering the significant impact of the Palestinian issue on the Middle East and its resonance on the global agenda, it is crucial for nations and major powers to "explore alternative approaches".