Arab Countries, US Split On Gaza Ceasefire As Israel Steps Up Offensive. Washington Sees Massive Pro-Palestine Rally

US and Arab countries split on ceasefire in Gaza as Washington sided with Israel. Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors took to the streets in Washington and London against attacks in Gaza

The United States and its Arab allies seemed divided over Israel's military offensive in Gaza against Hamas as Washington sided with Tel Aviv in resisting pressure to the calls for immediate ceasefire amid heavy loss of lives of the Palestinian civilians. 

An Arab foreign minister, in a rare display of a public split, pushed US State Secretary Antony Blinken to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire. The top US diplomat, however, dismissed the call, saying such a halt would facilitate Hamas, allowing the militant Islamist Palestinian group to regroup and attack again.

"This war is just going to produce more pain for Palestinians, for Israelis, and this is going to push us all again into the abyss of hatred and dehumanisation," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a joint news conference with Blinken. "So that needs to stop," reported Reuters. 

• Blinken will be on a second visit to the Middle East on Sunday since the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict reignited on October 7 following surprise attacks by Hamas on Israel leaving 1,400 people dead and escaping with more than 240 others hostage.


• According to health officials in Gaza, over 9,488 Palestinians have been killed since Israel struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground assault following Hamas' surprise attacks.


• Stirring global alarm at the humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave, pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in various cities in several countries calling for a ceasefire and castigate Israel for its offensive.

• Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in London, Berlin, Paris, Ankara, Istanbul and Washington calling for “ceasefire now”, "Freedom for Palestine", and "in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians"


• On Saturday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 30 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombing of Maghazi refugee camp, reported AFP.


• “More than 30 [dead] arrived at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the massacre committed by the occupation in al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip,” a health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said in a statement.


• Earlier, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said 51 Palestinians had been killed and scores wounded in the bombardment.


• In a statement on Telegram, Hamas accused Israel of "directly bombing citizens’ homes, adding that most of the dead were women and children.


• “An Israeli air strike targeted my neighbours’ house in al-Maghazi camp, my house next door partially collapsed,” said Mohammed Alaloul, 37, a journalist working for the Turkish Anadolu Agency. Alaloul's 13-year-old son, Ahmed, and his four-year-old son, Qais, along with his brother were killed in the attack, he told AFP, adding that his  wife, mother and two other children were injured.