Groups calling for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war gather outside United Nations
NEW YORK -- As we pass the one month mark since the Israel-Hamas war began, several groups gathered outside the United Nations on Wednesday, calling for a cease-fire.
Around 20 Black and Palestinian leaders held a rally calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 10,000 people have been killed since the war began.
"We decry violence. We decry killing of any innocent civilians," one speaker said.
"I received a phone call two days ago from a member of my community who lost 67 family members. So our message to President Biden is -- are you progressive in your politics, or are you a progressive genocider?" another speaker said.
"I will not be silent while children and babies are dying right before our eyes," another speaker said.
Israel Defense Forces say more than 1,400 people have been killed and 241 are being held hostage by Hamas. The spokesperson for the Israeli Consulate in New York says all hostages must be returned and calls the war a tragedy for Israelis and Palestinians.
"October 6th, there was a cease-fire. This war was forced on us by Hamas," said Itay Milner, spokesperson for the Consulate of Israel in New York. "There are talks about humanitarian relief and an humanitarian pause. We're already doing it in specific places and specific times."
He says the only solution for the safety of Israelis and Palestinians is to remove Hamas.
We spoke with two professors of international security who say a cease-fire technically means an end to all military activities and then peace building, which they believe is not possible right now.
"Cease-fire is a horrible idea at the moment," said Professor Danny Orbach, a military historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Their strategy is to massacre Israeli civilians then hide behind the backs of their own innocent civilians."
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"Cease-fires with Hamas, in the past, there have been four of them, and every single time that Israel agreed to a cease-fire, especially in 2014 when the battles lasted 50 days, they violated those cease-fires," said Dr. Howard Stoffer, a professor of national security at University of New Haven.
He says the other question is who is going to monitor a cease-fire. He believes any kind of break in fighting would give Hamas a chance to regroup and make things worse.