This content was published on 06 March 2024 – 02:02
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud
Cairo/Rafah (Gaza Strip) (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages was in the hands of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), while delegations continued talks for a third day without any indication. To achieve a breakthrough.
In the absence of a delegation from Israel, negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt are meeting in Cairo to try to reach the first long-term ceasefire in the war, a 40-day truce before the month of Ramadan, which begins next week.
The agreement presented to Hamas would allow for the release of some hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October attack that precipitated the war, as well as increase aid to Gaza in an attempt to avoid famine while hospitals are filled with children suffering from severe malnutrition, as well as provide Hamas with a list of the names of all… Hostages held in Gaza.
The White House said that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani confirmed during a meeting on Tuesday that the release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least six weeks.
“This first phase of the ceasefire will also enable increased humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and provide time and space to secure more sustainable arrangements and sustained calm,” the White House statement said.
Earlier in Beirut, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan reaffirmed the movement’s main demands, which are an end to the Israeli military attack, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the return of all Gazans to their homes that they were forced to leave.
Hamdan added that any exchange of hostages and prisoners could only take place after the ceasefire, which reflects Hamas’s view that the ceasefire must, above all, be a step towards settling the conflict.
But Israel’s focus is on temporarily stopping the fighting to remove the hostages from Gaza and bring more aid into it, and it insists that it will not end the conflict before eliminating Hamas.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Heyman said in a press briefing before Hamdan’s statements that Hamas must “come down from its imaginary positions and orbit us.”
He added, “Hamas is aware of the military pressure and we are applying it to them.”
Washington, the main political and military supporter of Israel and sponsor of the talks, also placed responsibility directly on Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.
“The matter is in Hamas’ hands now,” Biden told reporters. The Israelis are cooperating. “There was a rational offer.”
He added, “If we reach the situation in which it continues [القتال] Until Ramadan…it will be very dangerous.”
Violence between Palestinians and Israelis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories often escalates during the month of Ramadan, and hostility towards Israel increases in the Arab and Islamic world, which creates a strong incentive for leaders to reach an agreement before that time.
* Hamas proposal
Hamas sees the US position as an attempt to shift blame away from Israel if the talks collapse without reaching an agreement.
Earlier today, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas leader, told Reuters that the movement had presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to the mediators during two days of talks and was now awaiting a response from the Israelis, who were absent from this round.
Naim added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin, “Netanyahu does not want an agreement, and the ball is in the Americans’ court” to pressure him to reach an agreement.
A source told Reuters earlier that Israel boycotted the talks because Hamas rejected its request to provide a list of names of all hostages still alive. Naeem explained that this is impossible without a ceasefire first, given that the hostages are distributed throughout the war zone and are being held by different factions.
The United States also calls on Israel to do more to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people were killed in the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by a cross-border Hamas attack on October 7 that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
“We must get more aid into Gaza,” Biden said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, “We must ensure that it reaches the people who need it.” “So we will continue to push for this every day because the current situation is simply unacceptable.”
Hunger is currently gripping the besieged Gaza Strip, where aid supplies have diminished sharply over the past month, after having already declined sharply since the beginning of the war. Entire areas of the Strip have become completely deprived of food. The few hospitals still functioning in Gaza, already crowded with war casualties, are filled with children starving to death.
* Wasting affects children in Gaza
The child, Ahmed Kanaan, lies with his eyes sunken and his face pale, on a bed in Al Awda Hospital in Rafah, wearing a yellow jacket. The child has lost half his weight since the beginning of the war and now weighs only six kilograms.
His aunt, Israa Kalakh, told Reuters, “His condition is getting worse.” May God protect us from what is coming.”
A nurse also said that these children, who have become emaciated, are now flocking to the hospital in unprecedented numbers. She added, “We are facing a large number of patients suffering from this condition, which is malnutrition.”
The situation in northern Gaza is the worst, as neither aid agencies nor media cameras can reach it. Health authorities in Gaza say that 15 children died of malnutrition or dehydration in a hospital.
The US Army, in coordination with Jordan, carried out an airdrop of more than 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday, in a resumption of operations that Washington began last week. Relief agencies say that these amounts of food are very small compared to the extent of hunger.
“The United States is committed to doing everything we can to deliver more aid to those who need it most in Gaza,” Biden said on the X platform. We will not stand idly by and will not stop making these efforts.”
Israel says it is prepared to allow more aid into Gaza through two checkpoints on the southern end of the Strip that it has allowed to open, and blames the United Nations and other relief agencies for not distributing aid more widely.
Relief agencies say that this has become impossible with the collapse of civil administration and law and order, and that it is the responsibility of Israel to allow food entry and secure its distribution, whose forces have invaded Gaza towns and are patrolling them.
“The feeling of helplessness and desperation among parents and doctors, knowing that life-saving aid is being prevented while only a few kilometers away, must be unbearable,” said Adele Khader, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
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2024-03-06 01:02:32