White House: We do not view killings of Palestinians in Gaza as genocide

Reiterating a comment Biden made on Saturday, Sullivan said there could be a ceasefire in Gaza now if Hamas would release hostages. The world should be calling on Hamas to return to the negotiating table and accept a deal, Sullivan said.

The United States is working urgently for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, Sullivan said. He said he could not predict when or if such a deal would be sealed.

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GEN-Z VS GENOCIDE: HOPE FOR HUMANITY?

GEN-Z VS GENOCIDE: HOPE FOR HUMANITY?
Meanwhile, a United Nations security services member was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza on Monday, a spokesman said, adding the death was the first international UN employee killed in the Palestinian territory since the war began.

UN chief Antonio Guterres “was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and injury to another DSS employee when their UN vehicle was struck as they travelled to the European Hospital in Rafah”, said his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

It was “the first international casualty” for the UN since the start of the war, Haq said, recalling that some 190 Palestinian UN employees have been killed, mainly staff of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA).

“The Secretary General condemns all attacks on UN personnel and calls for a full investigation,” Haq said.

The spokesman did not immediately release the nationality of the person killed.

“I don’t have the full details of whether this was part of a large convoy or not, I believe it was in a convoy that was moving, and this was the DSS vehicle that was hit,” he said.

The DSS oversees the security of UN agencies and programmes in more than 130 countries around the world.

A poster depicting Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin is displayed in Re’im, southern Israel at the Gaza border in February, at a memorial site for the Nova music festival site where he was kidnapped in October. Photo: AP

Also on Monday, a Hamas spokesman said the group has lost contact with the guards of four Israeli hostages in Gaza following Israeli air strikes over the past 10 days,

Among these hostages is the US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, said a spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military arm, on Telegram.

Around two weeks ago, Goldberg-Polin appeared in a Hamas propaganda video. The circumstances and timing of the video’s creation remain uncertain.

The video marked the first sign of life from the 23-year-old, who was captured and abducted to Gaza by Hamas on October 7 after attending the Nova music festival.

Goldberg-Polin’s mother Rachel has been one of the most outspoken family members of the hostages and has appeared in numerous interviews, articles and podcasts.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, dpa