Grundberg Calls for Overcoming Outstanding Challenges, Extending Yemen Truce

UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg (United Nations)
UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg (United Nations)
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Grundberg Calls for Overcoming Outstanding Challenges, Extending Yemen Truce

UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg (United Nations)
UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg (United Nations)

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said on Tuesday that Yemenis can’t afford to go back to the pre-truce state of perpetual military escalation and political stalemate.

With just two weeks left in a two-month cease-fire in Yemen, the envoy said he hopes the truce will be extended.

"I continue to engage the parties to overcome outstanding challenges and to ensure the extension of the truce which is set to expire in two weeks," Grundberg said.

After a closed briefing to the UN Security Council, the envoy said the truce, which came into effect in the country on April 2 left a considerable positive impact on the daily lives of many Yemenis.

He applauded the parties to the truce for taking the “courageous” steps of agreeing to it, stressing that the truce is holding in military terms and that for the past six weeks civilian casualties have dropped considerably and fighting has sharply reduced.

“Front lines across Yemen have quietened down significantly, and there are reports of increasing humanitarian access, including in some frontline locations that had previously been extremely difficult to access,” the envoy stressed during the virtual news conference.

However, he added, “We continue to see concerning reports of continued fighting involving incidents of civilian casualties despite overall reduction.”

Grundberg also mentioned that the first commercial flight in almost six years took off from Sanaa airport for Jordan’s capital, Amman, on Monday and another flight brought Yemenis back.

“We are working with all involved to ensure the regularization of flights to and from Sanaa airport for the duration of the truce and to find durable mechanisms to keep it open,” he reassured.

A second flight to Amman is scheduled for Wednesday.

Also, the UN envoy said the Yemeni government allowed 11 fuel ships to enter the country’s Hodeidah port.

“This means more fuel deliveries than during the six months before the truce,” he noted.

Grundberg then said that priority now is to implement the truce agreement’s commitment to open roads in Taiz and other areas of Yemen.

He revealed that the Yemeni government has appointed its delegation to a UN meeting on opening roads, adding that as soon as the Houthis appoint their delegation, the UN will organize the discussion in Amman.

The UN envoy said he is not only working to extend the truce but to initiate talks on many issues so that the government, Houthis and other Yemenis can tackle critical issues and reach a political settlement to the war.



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.