US President Joe Biden once again defended his country’s ceasefire plan in the Gaza Strip this Sunday in a message to Muslims on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
“Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. Families fled their homes and witnessed the destruction of their communities. Their pain is enormous,” Joe Biden wrote in a press release issued to mark the Feast of Sacrifice, the largest on the Muslim calendar, also called Eid el-Kebir, which commemorates the sacrifice God required of Abraham by demanding of him. his son’s life was ultimately spared.
According to the American president, this ceasefire is the best way to help civilians suffering from the “horrors of the war between Hamas and Israel.”
“I firmly believe that Israel’s three-phase Hamas ceasefire proposal, supported by the UN Security Council, is the best way to end the violence in the Gaza Strip and ultimately stop the war,” Joe Biden added.
Relative calm in Gaza
Joe Biden announced a plan on May 31 that would initially call for a six-week ceasefire, accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli troops from densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, the release of some hostages and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The United States is pressuring Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, to formally accept the draft approved by the UN Security Council last week. Despite these international mediation efforts, hopes for a ceasefire continue to face conflicting demands from Israel and Hamas.
However, relative calm appeared to be observed in the Gaza Strip for several hours, while Israel announced it was observing a localized humanitarian pause along the road into the southern Palestinian territory, where the UN fears widespread famine. This pause should be used to deliver humanitarian aid. However, some strikes were reported on several neighborhoods of Gaza City in the north and artillery shelling of Rafah in the south, where the army is conducting a ground offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement.
The UN “welcomed” the measure but asked that it “lead to other concrete measures” to facilitate humanitarian aid supplies.
Fighting Islamophobia
In his message, America’s number one also highlighted America’s efforts to “protect the rights of other Muslim communities” “facing persecution,” such as the Rohingya in Burma or the Uyghurs in China. He also said he was “working toward a peaceful resolution to the terrible conflict in Sudan,” which has pitted the regular army against a paramilitary group since April 2023.
Domestically, Joe Biden has also committed to combating Islamophobia. Muslim Americans represent a key constituency for the Democrat, who hopes to return to the White House in November against his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. “My administration is developing a national strategy to combat Islamophobia and similar forms of bias and discrimination that affect not only Muslims, but also Arabs, Sikhs and South Asian Americans,” Joe Biden said.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
