The Palestinian group Hamas is preparing its response on Tuesday to a several-week truce offer in the Gaza Strip, combined with the release of Israeli hostages, at the end of negotiations that offer a glimmer of hope after nearly seven months of war, reports the AFP agency, quoted by boursorama. com.
After a meeting in Cairo on Monday with representatives of Egypt and Qatar, countries providing mediation alongside the United States, a Hamas delegation left the Egyptian capital for Doha to study a new truce offer, a source close to the Islamist movement said .
A response will come “as soon as possible,” this source added, while the al-Qahera News website, close to Egyptian intelligence, pointed out that the Hamas delegation “will return with a written response to the truce proposal “.
In this context, US President Joe Biden, who is facing a pro-Palestinian movement on many campuses in his country, asked the leaders of Qatar and Egypt to “do everything possible” to obtain the release of the hostages from Hamas “because this is the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire”.
During a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “hopeful” Hamas would respond favorably to an “extraordinarily generous” proposal from Israel.
It includes a “40-day ceasefire” as well as “the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of these hostages,” said British Foreign Minister David Cameron, who was also in the Saudi capital.
Since the beginning of the war, there has been only one week-long truce, at the end of November. It led to the release of about 80 Israeli or binational hostages and about 20 foreigners, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners imprisoned by Israel.
After Riyadh, Blinken is expected in Israel on Tuesday as part of a new Middle East tour aimed at promoting a new truce in the besieged Palestinian territories, which are in a major humanitarian crisis.
Rafah or truce?
In Riyadh, Blinken reiterated Washington’s opposition to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip that has become a huge displaced persons camp, housing more than one and a half million Palestinians in catastrophic sanitary conditions.
Despite disapproval from many capitals and humanitarian organizations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says an offensive on Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas and free hostages held in Gaza since the war began on October 7.
But Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, hinted at the end of the week that if a truce is reached, the planned Rafah operation will be “suspended”.
“We ask the whole world to call for a lasting ceasefire, that’s enough,” said a Palestinian, Abu Taha, on Monday as he watched over his slain relatives in Rafah’s al-Najjar hospital, as displaced families endured the heat without running water and barely protected from the sun under the canvas of their tents.
“The water we drink is hot,” said Ranine Aouni al-Arian, a displaced mother from the neighboring town of Khan Younis. “Kids can’t stand the heat, flies and mosquito bites,” she explained, holding a baby whose face was covered in bites.
The UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) warned that “as temperatures rise, the risk of disease spreading increases”.
“The hope”
Egypt said on Monday it was “hopeful” of a ceasefire. However, Zaher Jabareen, one of the Hamas negotiators, told AFP it was “too early to talk about a positive atmosphere in the negotiations”.
Above all, Hamas demands “a permanent cease-fire” in Gaza, which Israel has always refused, an Israeli “withdrawal” from Gaza and a clear timetable for the start of reconstruction, he said.
According to media reports, the Israeli war cabinet initially demanded the release of 40 hostages held in Gaza, before authorizing negotiators to reduce that number.
US news site Axios reported that Israel was demanding at least the release of women, both civilians and soldiers, and men over 50 or in poor health.
On Monday, relatives of two Israeli hostages who appeared in a video broadcast by Hamas, demanding their immediate release.
“Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States (…) we urge you to do everything in your power to bring your loved ones home now,” said Elan Siegel, daughter of Keith Siegel, 64, kidnapped by Hamas in October 7.
Arrest warrants?
On October 7, Islamist commandos infiltrated from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 are still held captive in Gaza, of whom 34 have died, according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas – which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union – and launched an offensive that left 34,488 dead, most civilians, according to the Islamist movement.
According to several local media, senior Israeli officials are now worried about possible arrest warrants issued against them by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the war in Gaza.
According to the website Axios, Benjamin Netanyahu asked Joe Biden in a phone conversation on Sunday to help him prevent the issuance of arrest warrants against him, his defense minister and his chief of staff.
