GAZA: Pressure mounted Monday on Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a major strike was held and US President Joe Biden said he was not doing enough to secure the release of Gaza captives, while Britain suspended some arms export licenses with the Zionist entity. Zionist forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said on Monday, while medics conducted a second day of polio vaccinations for children in the enclave.

Zionists were gripped by grief and fury after the military said Sunday the bodies of six captives were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza. A strike announced by the main trade union seeking a deal to secure the remaining captives’ release had brought parts of the country to a standstill, although some cities were largely unaffected. But a Zionist court on Monday ordered an immediate end to the strike called by the Histadrut union, calling it “politically motivated”.

Alongside the surging domestic anger, diplomatic pressure has also grown, with the US president on Monday delivering some of his strongest criticism of Netanyahu. Asked by reporters if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough on the issue, Biden responded: “No.” The US president was meeting with his negotiators who said they were “very close” to a final proposal to be presented to the Zionist entity and Hamas.

Responding to Biden’s comments, senior Zionist sources said it was “remarkable” that Biden was pressuring Netanyahu over a hostage deal rather than Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Biden’s criticism of Netanyahu was “American recognition that Netanyahu was responsible for undermining efforts to reach a deal”.

He said the group would respond positively to a proposal that could secure a permanent ceasefire and full Zionist withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave. Britain said Monday it would suspend some arms exports to the Zionist entity, citing a “clear risk” that they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law. The announcement follows a review by the foreign ministry into the arms sales given concerns about the Zionist entity’s conduct of its war in the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told parliament that the UK would suspend 30 out of 350 arms exports licenses to the Zionist entity. He said the partial ban covered items “which could be used in the current conflict in Gaza”, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones. The ban does not include parts for the F-35 fighter jets, Lammy added.

He stressed that the suspension was “not a determination of innocence or guilt” and that the situation would be kept under review. “We have not and could not arbitrate on whether or not the Zionist entity has breached international humanitarian law,” Lammy said, adding that Britain is “not an international court”.

On the ground in the Gaza Strip, the fighting raged on Monday, the second day of localized “humanitarian pauses” to facilitate a vaccination drive after the first confirmed polio case in 25 years. An AFP correspondent reported some air strikes overnight, and the civil defense agency said shelling and gunfire rocked Gaza City, with two people killed by a missile.

Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 87,000 children received a first vaccine dose on Sunday in central Gaza. There were shorter queues Monday, she said, but “this is to be expected”. “The biggest challenge now is just making sure that everybody has safe access” to the vaccination centers, she added. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called the inoculation campaign a “race against time to reach just over 600,000 children” in the war-torn territory of 2.4 million people.

“I am happy that I vaccinated my children against polio so that they don’t suffer from anything in the future, God willing. Hopefully all Gazan children get vaccinated not only against polio but against other diseases too,” said Waffa Abdelhadi after getting her two daughters, aged five months and five years old, vaccinated at a medical facility in Deir Al-Balah. She had to navigate roads devastated by war, with wrecked residential buildings on all sides, to reach the facility. “We don’t (only) want vaccinations. We want them to stop the war,” said Abdelhadi, adding she had been displaced with her family seven times in recent months.

The Zionist military campaign has so far killed at least 40,738 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. The war has sent regional tensions soaring, with violence surging in the occupied West Bank. The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry on Monday said at least 26 Palestinians have been killed since the Zionist entity launched simultaneous raids on Wednesday across the northern West Bank. Middle Eastern and Western governments as well as UN officials have called on the Zionist entity to end the large-scale operations in the Palestinian territory, which it has occupied since 1967.

In the city of Jenin, the streets were largely deserted and most shops were closed Monday, after explosions and clashes were heard overnight. Zionist bulldozers in Jenin city center and other areas have damaged infrastructure including water systems, officials have said. Elsewhere, Lebanon’s health ministry said a Zionist strike on a vehicle in the south Monday killed two people. – Agencies