Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman has welcomed the outcome of a report issued by the independent committee tasked with evaluating the performance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Oman commended the international organisation’s efforts in providing vital assistance and basic services to Palestinian refugees. A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry reiterated the steadfastness of Oman’s support for the Palestinian people. It affirmed Oman’s determination to undertake action, by all political and legal means, for the establishment of justice and peace. The statement underscored Oman's keenness on the realisation of a permanent and comprehensive settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in line with the two-state solution, resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.
Meanwhile, Hamas has reiterated its demand Israel end the Gaza war as part of any deal to release hostages held there, with Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior official in the Palestinian group, saying that US pressure on Hamas "has no value".
This comes after the United States and 17 other countries on Thursday issued an appeal for Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza.
Israel stepped up air strikes on Rafah overnight after saying it would evacuate civilians from the southern
Medics in the besieged Palestinian enclave reported five Israeli air strikes on Rafah early on Thursday that hit at least three houses, killing at least six people including a local journalist.
"We are afraid of what will happen in Rafah. The level of alert is very high," Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said on Thursday.
"Some are leaving, they are afraid for their families but where can they go? They are not being allowed to go to the north and so are confined to a very small area."
In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet was holding meetings "to discuss how to destroy the last vestiges, the last quarter of Hamas' battalions, in Rafah and elsewhere," government spokesperson David Mencer said.
He declined to say when or whether the classified forum might give a green light for a ground operation in Rafah.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities said on Thursday. The offensive has laid to waste much of the densely populated and widely urbanised enclave, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and leaving many with little food, water or medical care.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian civil defence team called on the United Nations to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers left the complex in Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said allegations by Palestinian authorities that its forces had buried the bodies were "baseless and unfounded". — ONA and Agencies
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