Hours of agony in Gaza after the only passage through which humanitarian aid could enter was closed. Now, Palestinian civilians face the specter of starvation after eight months of war in the Middle East.
At the same time, “all sides, including Israel, agree to return to the negotiating table” for a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the Egyptian intelligence-affiliated Al-Qahera News reported, citing senior official, amid fresh talks being held in Cairo today, a day after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal tabled by Egypt and Qatar.
Earlier, the same source said mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States were holding talks in Cairo with Hamas.
The Netanyahu video
At the same time, with a video on social media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the start of the operation – as the Israelis describe it – in Rafah, claimed that Hamas’s latest proposal for a cease-fire agreement “aimed to sabotage the entry of our forces into Rafa”.
“But that didn’t happen,” he continues to say in the same video, adding that “The operation in Rafah is intended to bring back the hostages and eliminate Hamas. We have already proven in the previous hostage release that military pressure on Hamas is a condition for the return of the hostages.”
He also emphasizes that Hamas’s offer is “far from Israel’s demands,” and goes on to say how “Israel will not allow Hamas to restore its insidious rule in the Strip. Israel will not allow Hamas to restore its military activities to continue working for our destruction.”
Netanyahu said he had ordered an intervention in Rafah to achieve two goals: the return of the abductees and the destruction of Hamas. #Rafah #FreePalestine #IsraelHamasWar #Netanyahu #FreeGaza #GazaGenocide #GazaWar #RafahUnderAttack #RafahNow #IDF pic.twitter.com/Sq9DwIavOa
— Le Belligerant (@lebelligerant) May 7, 2024
A senior Hamas official said the talks “could be the last chance for Israeli prisoners to return alive.”
According to the second-in-command of Hamas’ political wing in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, the proposal accepted by his movement includes three phases, each lasting 42 days, and includes the Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory, the return of the displaced and the exchange of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, with the aim of a permanent ceasefire.
Rafah, a city located at the edge of the besieged Gaza Strip and bordering Egypt, is home to 1.4 million Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are people displaced since the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas on October 7. , according to the UN.
The US attitude
For its part, the US has made its views clear to Israel on a large-scale ground operation in Rafah, a State Department spokesman said, in the first reaction from Washington since Israeli forces took control of the border crossing. with Gaza.
“We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interest of the Israeli and Palestinian people. It will lead to an immediate ceasefire and allow an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza,” a spokesman said in an emailed message.
The US government last week suspended the delivery of a shipment of bombs to Israel because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government did not respond to Washington’s “concerns” about the announced ground operation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, a US official said on Tuesday. official.
“We suspended the delivery of a shipment of weapons last week. It consisted of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (226-kilogram) bombs,” said the official in President Joe Biden’s administration, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Negotiations
A group of Israeli officials is traveling to Cairo to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to make changes to its latest truce proposal, a senior Israeli official said today, reiterating that the current proposal is not acceptable to Israel.
“This mission consists of mid-level agents. If there is possibly a credible agreement, the top officials will lead the mission,” the official told Reuters, referring to senior officials from the Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies, which head the Israeli side.
A delegation of Hamas arrived in Cairo today from Doha, Qatar to continue negotiations, the Palestinian organization said in a statement.
At the same time, Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned during a press conference in Beirut that if Israel’s military offensive in Rafah continues, there will be no ceasefire agreement.
At the same time, the Egyptian media Al-Qahera News which is close to the intelligence services reported that the mediators of Egypt, Qatar and the US are holding talks today in Cairo with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas with the aim of a truce in the Gaza Strip.
“The delegations of Qatar and the United States are continuing their talks with the Egyptian delegation and the Hamas delegation” to discuss the ceasefire, Egyptian media reported, citing a “senior official” who did not mention the presence Israeli delegation.
The negotiations in Cairo are taking place as Israeli tanks took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
Israeli jets are shelling the eastern part of Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than 1 million Palestinians displaced by the war have taken refuge.
Hamas issued a statement saying the operation was designed to undermine efforts to reach a ceasefire.
The truce proposal
The agreement that appears to have been accepted by Hamas is for a phased ceasefire and the release of hostages.
The new proposal would not allow Israel to veto the release of specific Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader serving a life sentence.
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#Gaza #Netanyahus #cynical #statements #distress #civilians #Rafah #Negotiations #intensify
