International mediators are continuing negotiations to secure a 40-day truce agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where hunger and death have defined the daily lives of civilians.
At talks in Cairo, the US, Qatar and Egypt hope to strike a deal before Ramadan in the besieged and largely leveled enclave, where relentless Israeli shelling killed 86 people in 24 hours yesterday, according to Hamas’ health ministry.
The Israeli army’s operations have plunged the Gaza Strip into humanitarian disaster: 2.2 million of its 2.4 million residents are at risk of starvation and at least 1.7 million have been forcibly displaced, according to UN figures.
The US, Israel’s main ally, is increasingly pressing for a temporary humanitarian ceasefire before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week.
The agreement “is in the hands of Hamas”, US President Joe Biden said yesterday Tuesday while calling on Israel, which controls humanitarian aid destined for the enclave, to allow “more” to enter.
The truce would allow the release of hostages who were kidnapped on October 7 and remain hostages in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israel, and an increase in the amount of aid entering the Palestinian territory.
The day before yesterday, 250 trucks entered the Palestinian territories, the representative of the American diplomacy Matthew Miller said yesterday, stressing that “dramatically more” should arrive.
A Hamas delegation is in Cairo, but not Israel. The talks, which began on Sunday, are “difficult”, the Al-Qahera television network, believed to echo the Egyptian intelligence service, reported yesterday.
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