Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday evening that his government has approved a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon, following weeks of talks and discussions with US mediation.
In a televised speech, the Israeli premier pledged to return residents to northern Israel, but warned that his army would strike Hezbollah should the Lebanese group violate the ceasefire.
He continued: ‘In full coordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively.’ He also claimed that Hezbollah has been ‘set back decades’, as several of its leaders and notable figures have been killed in the US-backed hostilities.
The deal will see Israeli troops withdrawing from south Lebanon, which it invaded at the start of October this year, and Hezbollah forces moving away from the border to the north of the Litani River. The Lebanese army will then be deployed in the area within 60 days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far from halting the action, added: ‘We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory.’
The US is seeking to hand the Middle East over to Israel!
Netanyahu also confirmed that the Israeli cabinet will discuss an outline for the ceasefire deal with its partner the United States ‘this evening’.
Netanyahu is the accepted partner of the US and UK ruling classes, in their joint bid to secure the oil wealth of the Middle East – over a mountain of corpses.
The Hamas Movement commented on Tuesday that Israel’s massacre at the Al-Hurriya School, southeast of Gaza City, which houses hundreds of displaced persons, constituted a blatant disregard for all UN and international bodies and international humanitarian law.
Hamas indicated that the Israeli ‘criminal bombing’ of the school ‘is a new crime in the ongoing genocidal war against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip’.
It renewed its demand on the international community to take urgent action to stop this ongoing genocide.
The Movement further called for ‘holding Israeli war criminals accountable before international justice, foremost the leader of the neo-Nazis, Netanyahu.’
In fact the Netanyahu regime enjoys the backing of both the UK and the US ruling classes.
A galaxy of UN human rights experts has called in vain for full compliance with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants issued against Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and former war minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
‘The ICC’s decision is marking a historic step towards justice and accountability, offering hope for ending decades of impunity for long-standing serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),’ the experts said in a press release on Tuesday.
‘The protracted lack of accountability, especially of the state of Israel, has been an enabling factor to the increasing and untenable violence in the region, affecting the lives and futures of both Palestinians and Israelis.’
Since the events of October 7, 2023, and Israel’s military attacks on Gaza and the rest of the OPT, the UN independent experts have received and documented evidence of grave Israeli violations of international law committed against Palestinian civilian populations. ‘These violations, often amounting to international crimes, must stop immediately and cannot go unpunished,’ they said.
Their call has been in vain!
While welcoming the ICC’s decision, the experts reminded countries of their legal and moral obligation to uphold international law and punish war criminals, stating that the power to enforce these arrest warrants rests with governments.
‘Compliance with the arrest warrants is critical to overcome long-standing impunity, benefiting perpetrators, and to end grave crimes in the OPT and Israel,’ they said.
As millions of people in the region, especially those in Gaza, continue to endure abhorrent atrocities, it is incumbent on all states to demonstrate their commitment to justice and upholding international law universally, without bias or double standards, the experts have said.
The trade union movement in the UK must see to it that the war criminals stand trial!
The TUC, following its statement of support for today’s Workplace Day of Action for Palestine must be now made to call serious action in support of the Palestinian revolution. It must call an immediate general strike to end this constant genocide by bringing down the Starmer government and going forward to a workers government and establishing the State of Palestine.
There is not a moment to lose!
