Israel yesterday gave civilians still trapped inside freshly encircled Gaza City a four-hour window, from from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm to leave Gaza City to leave, and residents escaping the city said they passed tanks in position to storm it.
And in a surprise news break yesterday, Turkey’s parliament removed Coca-Cola (KO.N) and Nestle (NESN.S) products from its restaurants over their alleged support for Israel amid the conflict in Gaza, according to an official statement and a source who named the two companies.
“The products of companies that support Israel will not be sold in restaurants, cafeterias and tea houses in the parliament campus,” Turkey’s Grand National Assembly said, without identifying the companies. The two companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters said.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus made the decision, it added, in order to “support public sensitivity regarding boycotting products of companies who have openly declared their support for Israel’s war crimes (and) killing of innocent people in Gaza”.
Elsewhere, the Barcelona port stevedores’ union refused to load and unload any military material amid the war in Gaza, while Belgian transport unions refused to handle military equipment being sent to Israel.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier said Israel would consider “tactical little pauses” in fighting to let hostages leave or aid enter, but again rejected calls for a ceasefire. Netanyahu said a general ceasefire would hamper his country’s war effort, but pauses to fighting for humanitarian reasons could continue to be considered based on circumstances.
United States President Joe Biden discussed such pauses by phone on Monday with Netanyahu, reiterating support for Israel while emphasising it must protect civilians, the White House said. Washington backs Israel’s assertion that Hamas would take advantage of a full ceasefire to regroup. But many countries say a ceasefire is needed at once to help Gazans in peril.
In some of the first direct comments on Israel’s plans for the future of Gaza after the war, Netanyahu said Israel would take on security responsibility for the territory for an indefinite period once it defeats the militants that have controlled it for the past 16 years.
Asked who would be responsible for security in Gaza after Hamas was defeated, Netanyahu told United States television’s ABC News: “I think Israel will for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.”
Israel said its forces have surrounded Gaza City, home to a third of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, and are poised to attack it soon in their campaign to annihilate the Hamas Islamists who attacked Israeli towns exactly a month ago.
While Israel’s military operation is focused on the northern half of Gaza, the south has also come under attack. Gaza’s interior ministry says 900,000 Palestinians are still sheltering in northern Gaza including Gaza City. Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes early yesterday in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
“We are civilians,” said Ahmed Ayesh, who was rescued from the rubble of a house in Khan Younis where health officials said 11 people had been killed. “This is the bravery of the so-called Israel, they show their might and power against civilians, babies inside, kids inside, and elderly.” As he spoke, rescuers at the house used their hands to try to free a girl buried up to her waist in debris.
Israel’s military said it had captured a militant compound in the northern Gaza Strip and was set to attack fighters hiding in a warren of underground tunnels. It released footage showing troops using bulldozers to dig up earth and knock over walls.
Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht told reporters Hamas fighters were “popping out” from tunnels to fire rocket propelled grenades at Israeli forces. “So we’re really putting an effort into taking out these tunnels as we move in and close in on Gaza City,” he said.
Israeli aircraft struck several Hamas militants who had barricaded themselves in a building near the al-Quds Hospital inside Gaza City, the military said. Both Israel and Hamas have rebuffed calls for a halt in fighting. Israel says hostages should be freed first. Hamas says it will not free them or stop fighting while Gaza is attacked.
A Turkish parliamentary source said Coca-Cola beverages and Nestle instant coffee were the only brands removed from menus, adding the decision was meant to respond to “huge public outcry against these companies” for supporting Israel.
Neither the parliament statement nor the source specified how Coca-Cola and Nestle supported Israel’s war effort. Last month Nestle said it temporarily shut down of one of its production plants in Israel as a “precaution”, becoming the first consumer products giant to announce a response to the war.
Turkish activists have in recent days named both companies in social media posts that call for boycotts of Israeli goods and Western companies they view as endorsing Israel. The Turkish parliament’s move is among the first by a government or major organisation to target big global brands over the month-long war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Over the past month, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his government have sharply criticised Israel’s assault on Gaza and Western support for Jerusalem.