Negotiators who met yesterday in Cairo were unable to reach an agreement on the declaration of an armistice between the Israel and the Hamashowever, the talks will continue, according to American and Israeli media reports, against the backdrop of the threatened Israeli attack on Rafah, the last refuge of approximately one and a half million displaced Gazans.
The delegations of Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel agreed to extend the talks for another three days, the New York Times reported, citing an Egyptian government source. They will continue at a lower level, according to the publication.
The Times of Israel newspaper also spoke of an extension of the talks.
The Israeli delegation, which included intelligence chiefs David Barnea of the Mossad and Ronen Barr of the Shin Bet, returned to Israel, according to the same newspaper, which cited a source in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Egypt, which has traditionally played a mediating role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hosted US and Israeli intelligence chiefs yesterday, as well as the head of Qatar’s government, for talks on declaring a new truce that would allow the release of hostages in hands of Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.
Talks between CIA Director William Burns, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman al-Thani and Egyptian officials have been “positive” and will continue over the “next three days,” he also reported earlier. the Al-Qaira television network, widely believed to have ties to the Egyptian intelligence service, citing a “senior Egyptian official”.
Yesterday, family members of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, continuing to press the government to do everything to free them, called on the Israeli delegation not to return until a deal has been struck “for the repatriation of all — the living and the dead.”
According to Israeli sources, more than 130 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of Hamas — although an army spokesman said last week that at least 31 of them are believed to be dead — of the approximately 250 kidnapped on October 7.
A week-long ceasefire in November allowed the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Displaced
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his army days ago to prepare to launch an attack on Rafah, according to him the “last stronghold” of Hamas.
Some 1.4 million Palestinians, in other words more than half the population of the Gaza Strip, are trapped in the city on the closed border with Egypt, where they went to escape the war that has been raging for more than four months.
“We were displaced from Gaza City to the south, then back to Rafah,” Alam Abu Asi recounted. “If they tell me to go back to Gaza City, I won’t do it unless it’s safe,” he added. “If not, I’d rather die where I am. People are already dying of hunger over there.”
“Military operations in Rada could lead to carnage,” warned Martin Griffiths, head of UN humanitarian operations, yesterday, calling on Israel not to “continue to ignore” the appeals of the international community.
The war broke out on October 7 when members of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s military wing Hamas launched an unprecedented raid from the Gaza Strip against southern sectors of the Israeli territory, killing more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to a count of Agence France-Presse based on official announcements by the Israeli authorities.
In retaliation, Israel, whose civilian-military leadership vows to “eliminate” Hamas and release “all” hostages, is conducting large-scale military operations in the Palestinian enclave that have so far killed at least 28,473 people, the vast majority of them women and children, according to the latest casualty count released by the Hamas Health Ministry.
“Dead or Alive”
The Israeli military released video yesterday that it said showed the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Shinuwar, in an underground tunnel three days after the start of the war.
The “pursuit” of the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack “will not stop until we catch him, dead or alive,” said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Despite warnings and international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is determined to continue “military pressure” until “total victory” over Hamas and the release of “all” hostages. It assured a US television network on Sunday that Israel would offer civilians “safe passage” to leave Rafah — without specifying in which direction.
The US, a key ally of Israel, insists it opposes a large-scale operation without a solution for civilians. US President Joe Biden demanded from the Israeli armed forces a “reliable” plan for their protection.
China also yesterday called on Israel to stop the military operation in Rafah “as soon as possible”.
Germany called on Israel to guarantee safe passage for protection in Rafah.
Two Palestinian Al Jazeera journalists were seriously wounded in an Israeli strike in the city yesterday, Qatar TV reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the leaders who has been most critical of Israel since the start of its operations in the Gaza Strip, will be in Cairo today, where he is expected to hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. This is his first visit to Cairo after a decade of tensions.
He explained that this trip, which included a stop in the United Arab Emirates, is intended to help “stop the bloodshed” in the Gaza Strip.
According to the US newspaper Wall Street Journal, Israel has proposed the creation of 15 camps, each consisting of about 25,000 tents, in the southwestern part of the small, besieged enclave, to transfer civilians there from Rafah, under the responsibility of Cairo.
Rafah is also the main gateway for aid reaching the Gaza Strip, although its quantity is insufficient to cover the ocean of needs of the population, which is now threatened, as the UN World Food Program (WFP) warns, by “famine ».
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