Negotiations to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continue on Wednesday, with a delegation from the Palestinian movement heading to Cairo, while about one and a half million Palestinians face the risk of carrying out an attack on Rafah, which constitutes their last refuge, with more casualties resulting from the bombing.
The Hamas Ministry of Health reported that 104 people died overnight in Israeli bombing and raids, most of them women and children.
CIA Director William Burns, Mossad head David Brene, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani arrived in Egypt on Tuesday to hold talks on a truce that would include the release of new hostages. Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the Israeli delegation left Cairo after that.
The discussions took place “in a positive atmosphere,” according to what the Cairo News Channel reported, quoting a “high-ranking Egyptian official.” The same official said at the end of the meeting, “Negotiations will continue during the next three days.”
Hamas political bureau official Khalil al-Hayya heads the movement’s delegation to Cairo, where he is likely to meet on Wednesday with the heads of Egyptian and Qatari intelligence, according to what a source in the movement told Agence France-Presse.
This comes as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi receives in Cairo on Wednesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the most prominent critics of the Israeli military campaign, in a visit aimed at consolidating reconciliation after a rift that lasted more than a decade. Erdogan explained that the visit to Egypt, as well as to the UAE previously, stems from Ankara’s interest in doing “everything in its power to stop the bloodshed.”
Palestinians try to rescue the wounded after an Israeli raid on Rafah in the Gaza Strip (AP)
In this context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday evening in Washington, “We are working intensively with Egypt and Qatar on a proposal to release the hostages.”
Israel estimates that about 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including 29 believed dead, out of about 250 people detained on October 7. The truce, which lasted for a week in November, allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.
About a hundred relatives of the hostages who are still being held in the Gaza Strip will go to The Hague on Wednesday to file a complaint against the Hamas movement before the International Criminal Court on charges of committing “crimes against humanity,” according to their representatives.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously ordered the Israeli army to “prepare” for an attack on the city of Rafah, located on the border with Egypt, which is considered “the last stronghold of the Hamas movement,” as he put it.
About 1.4 million Palestinians, i.e. more than half of Gaza’s population, are crowded in this city, amid desperate humanitarian and living conditions, according to the United Nations.
In Rafah, many Palestinians began to leave the tents, while others headed to the northern Gaza Strip with their few belongings tied to the roofs of their cars.
Ahlam Abu Assi said, “We were displaced from Gaza to the south and then… to Rafah… We have no money and there is no safe place,” stressing that she will not return to Gaza City unless she is sure that it is “safe.”
“I would rather die here,” she added. People are dying there from hunger.”
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, warned on Tuesday that Israeli military operations in Rafah “could lead to a massacre in Gaza,” calling on Israel not to “continue to ignore” the calls of the international community.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, opposes launching a large-scale operation without ensuring the safety of civilians stranded at the closed border with Egypt in the far south of the Strip.
In this context, US President Joe Biden once again urged Israel to develop a “credible and implementable plan” to protect civilians in any attack on Rafah.
Also, China urged Israel on Tuesday to stop its military operation in the city of Rafah “as soon as possible,” warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if the fighting continues.
Germany called on Israel to provide “safe passages” for civilians in Rafah, as the Qatari Al Jazeera channel announced on Tuesday that two of its journalists were seriously injured in an Israeli bombing.
The American Wall Street Journal reported that Israel will propose establishing 15 camps, each containing 25,000 tents, in the southwestern Gaza Strip, as part of the evacuation plan.
Rafah, which has turned into a huge camp, is the main entry point for scarce humanitarian aid that is not sufficient to meet the needs of the population threatened by famine and epidemics in the cold, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.
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2024-02-14 13:17:02
