Hamas is studying this Tuesday a proposed truce in the war against Israel accompanied by the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians returning to the large southern city are overwhelmed by the scale of the destruction after the withdrawal Israeli. Six months after the start of the war triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Israeli military operations continue against the devastated Gaza Strip and on the verge of famine according to the UN.
The main information to remember:
- A new three-stage proposal – the first of which provides for a six-week truce – is currently being studied by Hamas
- Without subscribing to a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, Israel announced on Sunday the withdrawal of its troops from Khan Younes
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, the last bastion he says of Hamas in Gaza
- Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II have warned of the “dangerous consequences” of such an offensive
Three-step proposal
During yet another session of negotiations in Cairo, the mediating countries – Qatar, Egypt, United States – put on the table a new proposal in three stages, the first of which provides for a six-week truce, said Monday evening a Hamas source. Saying it “wished” for an agreement, the movement indicated in a statement that Israel “had not responded to any” of its requests.
“Despite this, the leadership of the movement is studying the proposal (…) and will inform the mediators of its response,” added Hamas, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims . In addition to a six-week ceasefire, the proposal initially provides for the release of 42 hostages in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the entry of 400 to 500 trucks of food aid per day and the return home of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, according to the source within Hamas.
Hamas is demanding a definitive ceasefire, the Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza and a significant increase in aid, the delivery of which by land is strictly controlled by Israel, which has besieged the territory since October 9.
Withdrawal of troops to Khan Younes
Without subscribing to a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, Israel announced on Sunday the withdrawal of its troops from Khan Younes, the largest city in the south of the small territory transformed into fields of ruins. by Israeli bombings and fierce fighting. He also reported the entry of 419 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip on Monday, the highest number he said since the start of the war.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari told the BBC that he was more “optimistic” than a few days ago, but according to him the negotiations are far from being in their final “stretch”. “Houses, schools, hospitals are in ruins. Teachers, doctors, humanitarian workers are killed. Famine is imminent,” criticized the head of Unicef, Catherine Russell.
“Gaza is no longer Gaza”
In Deir el-Balah (center), the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital received wounded overnight, including children, some carried by their parents, according to AFP images. A boy with a bloody face sitting on the floor is treated by staff. Another Palestinian injured in the legs is carried on a stretcher. On Tuesday, the army announced in a press release that it had destroyed “terrorist infrastructure” in several sectors of Gaza and that a “plane eliminated a terrorist in Khan Younes who had participated in the October 7 massacre.” She reported fighting in the center of the territory and the “elimination of several terrorists”.
Immediately after the announcement of the Israeli withdrawal from Khan Younes, thousands of displaced people returned to the city, a few kilometers further north, to discover an apocalyptic landscape. “No more water, no more electricity, no more columns, no more walls, no more doors, there is nothing left. Gaza is no longer Gaza, it is a place in ruins,” says a woman returned to Khan Younès, who refuses to give his name. “There is nothing left of the family home. “It’s indescribable,” says another, Safa Qandil.
Israel spoke of a tactical withdrawal from Khan Younes which would allow soldiers to prepare “the continuation of their missions in the area of Rafah”, a town stuck to the closed border of Egypt where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together. mostly displaced people.
“Catastrophic suffering”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, the last bastion according to him of Hamas in Gaza, said on Sunday: “it will be done – there is a date”. Without specifying it. And the American ally reiterated its opposition to a “massive military invasion of Rafah”. French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II also warned of the “dangerous consequences” of such an offensive, in an article published in four newspapers including Le Monde.
They also called for a ceasefire and the release of “all hostages”. Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has restricted its exports to Israel. The latter denounced a “violation of trade agreements”.