A newspaper report revealedWall Street JournalThe American newspaper said that the Arab and American negotiators presented a proposal for a short-term truce in the Gaza Strip, in order to “buy time” with the aim of reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, at a time when negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement before the month of Ramadan are complicated (beginning on 10 or 11 March).
The negotiators said, according to the newspaper, that “pushing for a shorter-term ceasefire, which may last for a few days, may prove to each side that the other party is serious about a long-term agreement.”
The Wall Street Journal quoted Egyptian officials as saying that Hamas is “trying to achieve a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to committing to a permanent ceasefire after the proposed six-week truce, in exchange for the release of… Release the living hostages held by it.
Israel has rejected these demands so far, which has made the negotiations thorny, as Hamas (listed on US terrorist lists) clings to the demand for residents to return to their homes “to use it as an important political victory,” according to the newspaper.
The mediators also hope to persuade Israel to accept the completion of a humanitarian truce that will allow the flow of aid, in light of the scarcity of supplies in the Strip, especially in the north.
Trump declares his support for the war waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip
The potential Republican candidate for the US presidential elections, Donald Trump, on Tuesday expressed his support for the war waged by Israel in the Gaza Strip, in his most clear statement yet regarding the fighting there.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the United States had amended the wording of a draft UN Security Council resolution to support “an immediate ceasefire lasting approximately 6 weeks in Gaza and the release of all hostages.”
Washington had used its veto power against 3 draft Security Council resolutions – two of which called for an immediate ceasefire – during the war that has been ongoing for 5 months.
Recently, the United States justified the veto, saying that such action in the council could jeopardize efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to mediate an end to the war and the release of the hostages, according to Reuters.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that talks on a possible six-week ceasefire in Gaza are “now in the hands of Hamas.”
Biden said, according to what was reported by the New York Times, that the Israelis were “cooperating” in the indirect negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, and that a “rational offer” had been made.
Biden: The ceasefire talks are now in the hands of Hamas
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that talks on a possible six-week ceasefire in Gaza are “now in the hands of Hamas.”
On Tuesday, Hamas official (classified as a terrorist organization) in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, criticized Washington’s position, which he said “supports an Israeli opinion that says Israel has the right to stop killing for a few weeks, then return to the same killing, and we remain in this spiral.”
In a press statement, circulated by several media outlets, Hamdan stressed that any exchange of hostages and (Palestinian) prisoners could not take place “except after the ceasefire,” which reflects Hamas’s view that the ceasefire must, before anything else, be a step toward… Conflict settlement.
In the absence of a delegation from Israel, negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt met in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to try to reach the first long-term ceasefire in the war.
An Israeli official told the Associated Press that his country “is still waiting for Hamas to hand over the list of living hostages, as well as the ratio of hostages to prisoners that it wants through any release deal.”
It is not clear whether this information was included in the latest proposal.
A new proposal and American skepticism: Gaza negotiations without an “agreement” before Ramadan
Three days of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages ended Tuesday without progress, according to Egyptian officials, less than a week before the start of the month of Ramadan, which represents an unofficial deadline for reaching an agreement.
The mediators hoped to reach an agreement before the beginning of the month of Ramadan, which often witnesses an escalation of Israeli-Palestinian tensions related to access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
The war broke out following an attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, on Israel, which resulted in the killing of more than 1,160 people, the majority of whom were civilians and including women and children, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli figures.
Israel vowed to “eliminate” Hamas after the attack, and began a devastating bombardment on the Gaza Strip, followed by ground operations, causing the deaths of 30,631 people, the majority of whom were women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the Strip.
#proposal #buy #time #truce #negotiations #Israel #Hamas
2024-03-06 11:18:11
