US President Joe Biden is expected to meet today with American negotiators working to free hostages in the war between Israel and Hamas, after the Israeli army found the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including an American citizen.
The negotiators are in the White House
The meeting will take place at the White House in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will run in November’s presidential election, will also participate.
Aim for a deal on the hostages
The statement issued for the meeting states that Biden and Harris will meet today with “the US team negotiating a hostage deal following the killing of US citizen Hersh Goldberg-Paulin and five other hostages by Hamas and discuss the efforts to reach an agreement that would ensure the release of the remaining hostages.”
Push for a hostage exchange and ceasefire
The United States, Egypt and Qatar, which have also taken on the role of mediator, have been pushing for months for a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis—as many as half a million, according to media estimates—demonstrated in various cities to demand, once again, that a deal be struck to release the hostages. In Tel Aviv, protesters blocked a highway. Television networks broadcast footage of police using water cannons against protesters. The authorities spoke of 29 arrests.
Over 300,000 people gathered in #TelAviv tonight, demanding a ceasefire and a hostages deal. Protesters accuse #Netanyahu of blocking the agreement. Left-wing groups are planning a general strike on Monday, marking the biggest demonstrations in #Israel since early 2023.… pic.twitter.com/GaYd3l73Nn
— Ghulam Abbas Shah (@ghulamabbasshah) September 1, 2024
“No agreement without a complete withdrawal of the Israelis from Gaza”
Speaking on Al Jazeera television yesterday, Khalil Al Hayya, Hamas’s top negotiator, reiterated that the movement will not accept any deal unless it provides for the complete withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the Gaza Strip, including the so-called corridors of Philadelphia and Nezarim — which has turned into a major obstacle in the talks.
The blood toll in Gaza and Israel
During the unprecedented raid by the military arm of Hamas in the southern part of the Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, 251 people were kidnapped. Of these, 97 remain in the enclave, but 33 of them have been declared dead by the Israeli army.
Hamas’ raid on Israel killed 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Israel’s large-scale military retaliatory operations have so far killed at least 40,738 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas health ministry, caused a humanitarian and health disaster and displaced almost the entire population of 2.4 million. According to the UN, the majority of victims were women and children.
Source: APE – MEB
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