Palestinians inspect the rubble following overnight Israeli bombardment which hit the al-Habash family home at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday — AFP BANGKOK, Mar 20 (Reuters/AP/AFP): Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Wednesday said it was vital for a pause in fighting between Israel and militant group Hamas to enable the release of hostages in Gaza, but a lot of conditions first needed to be met for a lasting ceasefire.
Speaking to Reuters during a trip to Thailand, Cameron said attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas last year and its holding of hostages was inhumane, and the only way for the Palestinian people to have a future was with the militant group out of the picture.
"Crucially what we must try to do is to turn that pause into a permanent sustainable ceasefire," Cameron said in an interview during a visit to a Thai air force base.
"We will only do that if a whole lot of conditions are fulfilled... we've got to get Hamas leaders out of Gaza, we have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure."
His remarks come as Washington launches a new diplomatic push for a ceasefire in the nearly six-month-old war, to free hostages and bring in food aid to ward off famine in the Palestinian enclave.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the Middle East this week, where he will meet senior leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to "discuss the right architecture for a lasting peace", though made no mention of a stop in Israel.
Heavy fighting rages around
Gaza's biggest hospital
Explosions and shootings shook the Gaza Strip's biggest hospital and surrounding neighborhoods as Israeli forces stormed through the facility for a second day Tuesday. The military said it had killed 50 Hamas militants in the hospital, but it could not be independently confirmed that the dead were combatants.
The raid was a new blow to the Shifa medical complex, which had only partially resumed operations after a destructive Israeli raid in November. Thousands of Palestinian patients, medical staff and displaced people were trapped inside the sprawling complex Tuesday as heavy fighting between troops and Hamas fighters raged in nearby districts.
"It's very hard right now. There's heavy bombardment in the area of Shifa, and buildings are being hit. The sound of tank and artillery fire is continuous," Emy Shaheen, who lives near the hospital, said in a voice message with repeated booms of shelling audible in the background. She said a large fire had been raging for hours near the hospital.
The Israeli military said it raided Shifa early Monday because Hamas fighters had grouped in the hospital and were directing attacks from inside.
Pope repeats call to negotiate
in Ukraine, Gaza peace talks
Pope Francis on Wednesday repeated his call for negotiations to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, after remarks about "raising the white flag" sparked outrage in Kyiv.
At his weekly audience at the Vatican, the 87-year-old turned his thoughts to the populations of "the martyred Ukraine and of the Holy Land, Palestine, Israel, who suffer so much from the horror of war".
"Let us never forget, war is always a defeat. We cannot go forward during a war. We must make every effort to talk, to negotiate."
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