Tel Aviv. The United States and Britain have urged Hamas to quickly accept an “extraordinarily generous” Israeli proposal for a truce in the war in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.
Hamas negotiators are expected to meet with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to respond to the proposed phased truce that Tel Aviv presented over the weekend.
“Hamas is faced with a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” said the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, at a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.
“The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide and do it quickly,” he said. “I am hopeful that they will make the right decision.”
A source familiar with the talks said the Israeli proposal involves an agreement for the release of fewer than 40 of the approximately 130 hostages believed to remain captive in Gaza, in exchange for freeing Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. A second phase of the truce would consist of a “period of sustained calm,” an Israeli compromise response to Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire.
A total of 253 hostages were captured in a Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, which also killed 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli counts. In retaliation, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza and mounted an air and ground attack that has killed some 34,500 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled strip.
Palestinians are suffering from severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine in a humanitarian crisis caused by the offensive, which has demolished much of the territory.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who is also attending the WEF meeting in Riyadh, described the Israeli proposal as “generous.” It includes a 40-day pause in fighting and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, as well as Israeli hostages, he told a forum hearing.
““I hope that Hamas accepts this agreement and, frankly, all the pressure and all eyes in the world should be on them this day, saying ‘accept this agreement,'” Cameron said.
The official was joined by several foreign ministers in Riyadh, including those from the United States, France, Jordan and Egypt, as part of a diplomatic effort to end the war in Gaza.
Blinken reiterated that the United States – Israel’s main diplomatic support and largest weapons supplier – cannot support a ground attack on Rafah if there is no plan to ensure it does not harm civilians.
More than a million displaced Gaza residents are crammed into Rafah, the enclave’s southernmost city, where they have taken refuge from Israeli bombing. Tel Aviv says the last Hamas fighters are entrenched there and that it will soon launch an offensive to dislodge them.
Israeli airstrikes on three houses in Rafah killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, doctors reported Monday.
Asked about the nighttime attacks in Rafah, an Israeli military spokesman said the jets had “hit terror targets, where terrorists operate within a civilian area in southern Gaza,” declining to give details.
““The Israeli defense forces will continue to disrupt terrorist activity and protect Israeli civilians, in accordance with international law,” the spokesperson added.
Relatives of those who died in the Israeli attacks showed up at a hospital in Rafah to take the bodies and bury them. Women and men cried as they said goodbye to their sacrificed relatives, wrapped in black and white shrouds.
“It’s called Deif-Allah [que significa huésped en árabe] and he was actually a guest. He came as a guest after we wanted him for a long time, 10 years,” said Abu Taha, holding the body of his baby girl, wrapped in a white shroud.
“Ten people died: the mother, her daughter, her granddaughters, her grandson, her son-in-law, her daughters and relatives, all of them. “They all died, ten in total.”
A senior Hamas official told Reuters that talks will be held in Cairo between the Hamas delegation and Qatari and Egyptian mediators to discuss the group’s comments on the Israeli response to its recent proposal.
““Hamas has certain questions and demands about the Israeli response to the proposal, which the movement received from mediators on Friday,” the official said.
Asked about the new round of talks in Cairo, a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts commented: “Things are looking better this time.”
(With information from Reuters)
© The Independent
Translation: Jorge Anaya
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– 2024-05-07 05:44:29
