The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas gives its response on Monday to a proposed truce in the war with Israel in Gaza, besieged and threatened with famine, associated with a release of hostages. A tripartite meeting is to take place in Cairo between Egypt, Qatar and Hamas, the delegation of which will be led by Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the political wing of the movement for the Gaza Strip and very involved in the negotiations, indicated a senior Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“The atmosphere is positive, barring new obstacles posed by Israel,” an official of the Islamist movement who requested anonymity told AFP. “No major issues are raised in the observations and requests that Hamas will submit regarding the content of the proposal” during this meeting, he added.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States are trying to convince the two belligerents to stop fighting
This is a proposal developed by Egypt and amended by Israel. It was presented in response to Hamas which, in mid-April, insisted on a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a hypothesis that Israel refuses to consider. The details of the Israeli proposal have not been filtered but according to the American news site Axios, which cites Israeli officials, it includes the desire to discuss “the establishment of lasting calm” in Gaza.
The meeting in Cairo comes almost seven months after the start of the war, triggered by the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel on October 7. Egypt, Qatar and the United States are trying, so far in vain, to convince the two belligerents to stop fighting. At the end of November, a one-week truce, however, allowed the release of 80 hostages held by Hamas against 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Internal pressure on Netanyahu’s government
Internal pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to increase, such as a new demonstration on Saturday evening which brought together thousands of people in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7. That day, Hamas commandos carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, as well as the United States and the European Union. Its offensive in Gaza left 34,454 dead, mostly civilians, according to a new report on Sunday from the Hamas Health Ministry, in power since 2007 in the territory.
Antony Blinken expected in Israel this week
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected this week in Israel, where he last visited in March, as well as in Jordan, the US State Department announced on Sunday. Touring the Middle East to promote a truce, Mr. Blinken arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia, where a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is being held on the conflict.
On Sunday, during this two-day summit bringing together senior Arab and Western leaders in Riyadh, the head of Saudi diplomacy, Prince Faisal bin Farhane, affirmed that “the situation in Gaza is clearly a catastrophe from all points of view, humanitarian, but also a total failure of the existing political system to deal with the crisis.
Invited to the event, the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas called on Washington to prevent the ground offensive that Israel claims to be preparing against the town of Rafah, in the south of Gaza, already regularly bombed, and where crowds one and a half million Palestinians, mainly displaced people. “America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime,” declared Mr. Abbas, according to whom such an operation, announced by Israeli officials, would be “the greatest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people “.
“If there is an agreement (truce), we will suspend the operation in Rafah,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli channel N12 on Saturday. “The release of the hostages is a fundamental priority for us,” he added. “If there is an opportunity to make a deal, we will.”
Three Israeli strikes in Rafah killed 16 people
During the night from Sunday to Monday, three Israeli strikes in Rafah killed 16 people, hospital sources told AFP. Two other strikes left seven dead in Gaza City (center), according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. The Israeli army said on Sunday it had struck “dozens of terrorist targets” in central Gaza. And throughout Saturday, the Israeli navy targeted Hamas targets and provided support to troops deployed in the center of the territory, the army said Sunday.
In addition to the destruction and heavy human toll, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory where 2.4 million people live. Strictly controlled by Israel, humanitarian aid comes in trickles. “We have to make do with what we receive in aid and preserves,” laments Mohamad Sarhan, a 48-year-old displaced person, in Rafah, expressing the wish to see “the war stop and our suffering end.”
Faced with Israel’s delays and blockages regarding the land delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, United States President Joe Biden announced in early March the construction of an artificial port.
The pier under construction in Gaza should allow more aid to be delivered within “two to three weeks” but “nothing can replace the land roads and trucks entering” Gaza, declared the spokesperson for the Council National Security Director John Kirby on Sunday. During a telephone exchange on Sunday, MM. Biden and Netanyahu, in this area, “discussed an increase in the delivery of humanitarian aid” to Gaza, “in particular through preparations for the opening this week of new crossing points in the north” of the territory coastal, according to a White House press release. Joe Biden insisted “on the need for lasting and amplified progress in full coordination with humanitarian organizations”.
25,000 humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza
The Israeli army said on Saturday that 25,000 humanitarian aid trucks had entered Gaza since October 7. The UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) puts the figure at 23,000 trucks.
In the Red Sea, American forces on Sunday shot down five aerial drones that presented an “imminent threat” to merchant shipping, according to the American Military Command for the Middle East. Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control large swaths of Yemen and support Hamas, have been carrying out attacks since November on ships they believe are linked to Israel.