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Negotiations are intensifying with a view to a new truce between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel, at war in the Gaza Strip, which Washington hopes to see concluded next week.
Two weeks before the start of Ramadan, regularly cited as a deadline, and while the death toll from the war approaches 30,000 deaths in Gaza, the conditions of this truce remained unclear on Tuesday, following a meeting in Paris between Americans, Qataris, Egyptians and Israelis and following indirect negotiations between representatives of Hamas and Israelis in Egypt and Qatar in recent days.
The Emir of Qatar, Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani, began a two-day state visit to France on Tuesday, focused on the release of hostages in Gaza and the relaunch of the process for the creation of a Palestinian state. During the visit, the two countries signed a declaration of intent in terms of humanitarian cooperation, particularly in Gaza, including a joint commitment of 200 million euros in favor of the Palestinians.
Three Franco-Qatari cargo planes also transported humanitarian and medical aid to Al-Arich, an Egyptian town near Rafah, including 75 tons of freight, ten ambulances, food rations, as well as nearly 300 family tents, announced the ‘Elysium.
“We said that Ramadan would be a point of contention, of confrontation, and that we were going to push for there to be a break before the start of Ramadan”declared the spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed Al-Ansari, during a press conference in Doha, specifying that he had L’“hope, without necessarily being optimistic, of being able to announce something today or tomorrow”. “We are all aiming for this objective, but the situation remains changing on the ground”he added.
American President Joe Biden had affirmed the day before that an agreement on a ceasefire and a release of hostages could be found before the start of Ramadan, which is due to begin around Monday March 11.
Egypt warns of ‘catastrophic repercussions’ if Israel attacks Rafah
Egypt said Tuesday in Geneva that an offensive by the Israeli army in Rafah, in the south of Gaza, would have “catastrophic repercussions” on peace in the Middle East. “Any military action in the current circumstances would have catastrophic repercussions that would compromise peace in the region”said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, urging Israel not to attack Rafah and calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Washington releases $53 million in aid for Gaza, where famine is “almost inevitable”, according to the UN
The United States announced Tuesday new humanitarian aid of $53 million for the Palestinians. The US Agency for International Development, USAID, announced that aid would flow through the World Food Program and NGOs, as Israel and Western powers turn away from the UN refugee agency Palestinians, UNRWA.
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Announcing the aid in a video broadcast from Jordan, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said the new assistance “must reach people in need”. “Aid workers on the ground in Gaza risking their lives to bring food to people who desperately need it must be protected”, she added. This aid brings to $180 million the total amount of emergency aid granted by the United States to the Palestinians since the start of the war.
“If nothing changes, famine is imminent in northern Gaza”, alerted Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. No humanitarian convoy has been able to reach the northern Gaza Strip since January 23. For its part, OCHA, the UN humanitarian office, warned more broadly against “widespread famine almost inevitable” throughout the Palestinian territory.
New exchanges of fire between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel
Hezbollah announced Tuesday that it had launched, for the second day in a row, a new salvo of rockets against “the Meron air control base”in response to Israeli air strikes the day before on eastern Lebanon.
For the first time since the start of the war in Gaza, the Israeli army on Monday targeted Hezbollah positions in Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold located in the east of the country of Cedar, killing two fighters, well beyond the regions borders usually targeted. The UN special coordinator in Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, reacted on Tuesday “urging an immediate end to this dangerous cycle of violence”.