After the UN Security Council failed to adopt a resolution on the Gaza conflict, the issue has been forwarded to the UN General Assembly. Speakers from the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the EU, the African Union, and the League of Arab States are expected to address the issue at the UNGA on October 27.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv is making preparations for an all-out ground operation in the Gaza Strip: the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), supported by fighter jets and drones, have conducted at least two limited ground raids into Gaza over the past two days.
If the international community fails to reach consensus on the Gaza war, the Israeli operation may lead to massive casualties and claim the lives of hostages held by Hamas, Egyptian journalist Mohammed Gomaa noted, adding that skepticism is growing about Tel Aviv's ground op plans.
"When the ground invasion will start, I think even the hostages would be in the middle of this ground invasion. So they will not be safe," Gomaa told Sputnik. "I think it will be hard to save them also. And this is the problem now. And also, we know that the administration here in the US is keen to return them safe instead of being killed. You know, maybe more than 15 hostages or more have been killed by the Israeli raids during the 20 days since October 7. So the ground invasion is hard to start."
On Thursday, the Gaza-based Ministry of Health released its first report on casualties which included the names of victims, ID numbers, age, and gender of Palestinians. The total toll is estimated at 7,028 Palestinians, including 2,913 minors, per the ministry.
The Palestinians are also facing harsh humanitarian problems, since the healthcare system cannot deliver services amid Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and the continuous bombing campaign, the Egyptian journalist said. To complicate matters further, the southern parts of the Gaza Strip that Israel had declared as safe zones were also subjected to shelling by the IDF last week, exacerbating fears and frustration among Palestinians.
"Everything collapsed," said Gomaa. "And that's when I speak to my friends there, they told me that everything was horrible, because there is no electricity, there are no supplies for food and gas. That's why they are facing a lot of problems. More than one million people are starting to move from northern Gaza to the south of the Gaza Strip. […] They are fearing the ground invasion. And also, we heard the news from there that […], even they say that the southern Gaza is designated by Israeli government to be safe […] they are targeting the southern area and that a lot of people were killed [there]."
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Tel Aviv of "deliberate brutality" in Gaza earlier this week. "You cannot find another state or army that continues this inhumane action with its tanks, cannons and weapons," Erdogan said, hinting at Israel, on Wednesday, announcing that he had canceled his state visit to Israel over the Gaza war.
In addition, on Thursday, the foreign ministers of nine Arab countries, namely Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Morocco, issued a joint statement urging the UN Security Council to enforce an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Even though a number of Arab states have treaties with Israel, including Egypt, Jordan, and participants of the Abraham Accords - brokered by the Trump administration in 2020 - their populations are growing discontent with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, Gomaa said. The journalist expects the Arab League to raise its voice during the UNGA session. Still, he bemoaned the fact that UNGA resolutions are not legally binding, meaning that they may fall short of bringing any tangible results.