On the 212th day of the war, talks on a possible cease-fire in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are expected to resume in a few hours today in Cairo, amid the exchange of accusations between the belligerents for obstructing the agreement. .
On the ground, new airstrikes were reported in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the south, in Rafah, with the Hamas Health Ministry reporting 32 deaths in 24 hours.
While, some seven months after armed conflict broke out, triggered by an unprecedented incursion by Hamas’ military arm into Israel on October 7, the director of the World Food Program (WFP), Cindy McCain, sounded the alarm that now the northern Gaza Strip hit by ‘real famine’, spreading southwards.
Yesterday, a delegation of Hamas led by Khalil al-Haya had a first round of contacts with the mediators, who are awaiting the response of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
But there has been “no development,” said a spokesman for Hamas, a movement in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007.
A senior Israeli official said, on condition of anonymity, that only if there were tangible signs of progress would an Israeli delegation led by David Barnea, the head of Mossad – Israel’s intelligence agency – go to Cairo.
According to him, “long and difficult negotiations must be expected in order to reach a true agreement”.
According to a report by the American news site Axios, CIA director William Burns is in Cairo.
The day after Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blocking any chance of a deal by insisting he would order an attack on Rafah, an Israeli official in turn accused Hamas of blocking any chance of a deal by insisting on its claim to end the war permanently.
The proposal of the mediators (Egypt, Qatar, USA), submitted to Hamas at the end of April, provides for a 40-day ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“You’re the one who undermines every deal”
An Israeli official said yesterday that Hamas was “blocking any possibility” of a ceasefire by insisting on demanding a definitive end to the war.
A Hamas official reiterated earlier that the movement “will never accept an agreement that does not explicitly provide for an end to the war.”
“Our information confirms that (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu is personally putting the brakes on reaching an agreement because of personal calculations,” the Hamas official added.
The day before Friday, Hamas announced that its delegation is going to Cairo with an “open spirit”, insisting, however, on its constant demands: the “complete end of the attack” by Israel and the “withdrawal” of the Israeli army from the enclave.
Israel rejects these terms of Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organization, as do the US and the EU, and has vowed to “exterminate” it after the October 7 attack.
Israel’s large-scale retaliatory military operations in the Palestinian enclave, by air, sea and land, have so far claimed the lives of at least 34,654 people, most of them women and children, according to its health ministry. Palestinian Islamist movement.
Last night thousands of people, including relatives of hostages, demonstrated once again in Tel Aviv to demand that the Netanyahu government strike a deal to return Israelis still held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip home.
A banner with Mr. Netanyahu’s portrait read the slogan “you are the one who undermines every agreement.”
“Beyond Acceptable”
While efforts and calls for a cease-fire continue, Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to hammer home his determination to order a ground assault on Rafah, which he says is Hamas’ “last” stronghold in the enclave.
“We will do what is necessary to defeat, to crush our enemy, not excluding Rafa,” he reiterated this week. The operation will take place, “with or without an agreement” for a ceasefire, he insisted.
For Husham Badran, a member of the Hamas politburo, Mr Netanyahu’s threats to Rafa “are clearly aimed at nullifying any possibility of an agreement”.
Israel’s main ally, the US, publicly opposes the Rafah attack and calls for a “credible” plan to protect civilians
The US Foreign Minister Blinken said yesterday that this has not happened in Washington and warned that given this element, the attack on Rafa cannot be supported by the US, since it would cause losses far “beyond what is acceptable”.
International humanitarian aid, which remains highly vetted by Israel, continues to trickle in as the enclave’s entire population – 2.4 million people – is at risk of starvation.
“Famine is present”
Rafah, on the closed border with Egypt, is the main gateway for humanitarian aid arriving by land routes.
If a ground attack is launched there, it will deal a “severe blow to humanitarian operations in the entire Gaza Strip,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns.
“When these kinds of conflicts break out, with so much emotion, with so much going on, famine comes,” said the director of the UN Security Council, Cindy McCain, in an excerpt of an interview she gave to NBC and aired last Friday (the interview will be broadcast entire today). In Gaza, “famine is present, it’s a real famine in the north spreading to the south,” he warned.
He once again called for a ceasefire in the enclave and for the PLO to be offered “unfettered access” to “go into Gaza” to distribute humanitarian aid.
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