Israel-Hamas war live updates: Blinken meets with Arab nations after U.S. vetoes cease-fire resolution
NBCNov 30, 2023
European Countries Seek Additional Hamas Sanctions
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Image copyright: Amir Levy/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
France, Germany, and Italy called on Monday for the EU to set up a special sanctions scheme to target Hamas, weighing the possibility of targeting Hamas's finances and travel bans for Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank. Hamas is already listed by the EU as a terrorist group, and the foreign ministers did not provide details regarding what would change.
After a weekend of intense street battles, Israel has continued to advance into the urban centers throughout the Gaza Strip, in particular in the city of Khan Younis in the south. Despite Israel's gains on the ground, it has failed to completely prevent rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and rocket fire has also continued from Lebanon. So far, Israel has officially announced the loss of 104 of its soldiers, with another 582 soldiers being injured since the start of the ground war.
The Spin
Pro-Israel narrative
Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon last week's temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an attack like Oct. 7 again.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.
