Delegations from the Islamist movement, from Qatar and the United States are in the Egyptian capital to beginar “a new round of negotiations”. Hamas envoys have to rule on the proposal outlined in Paris at the end of January, said a source close to the Palestinian group.
This proposal by the mediating countries – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – is based on a six-week pause in fighting and the release of 42 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The objective is to reach a truce before the beginning of the Muslim fasting month, which will begin on March 10 or 11.
“The Israelis accepted in principle the elements of the agreement”a senior US official said on Saturday, although Israel has not confirmed it.
An agreement could be signed “within 24 or 48 hours” if Israel “accepts Hamas’ demands, which include the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and increased humanitarian aid,” a senior leader of the Islamist movement said on Sunday. to the AFP.
On the ground, there were night bombings in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to an AFP correspondent.
The Hamas government, in power in the enclave since 2007, indicated that there were artillery fires against Jabaliya, Beit Hanun, Zeitun and Tal Al Hawain the north.
In almost five months of war, military operations in retaliation for the unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7 have left 30,410 dead in the Strip, mostly civilians, according to the latest balance sheet from the territory’s Ministry of Health.
In the last 24 hours, 90 people have died, 14 of them members of the same family in a bombing in Rafah.
In the attack by Hamas commandos on Israeli soil, some 1,160 people were killed, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data. The Islamists kidnapped about 250 people, of whom 130 are still held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
The conflict has also caused a humanitarian catastrophe and famine is “almost inevitable” for 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the Gazan population, according to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The Hamas Health Ministry has reported the death of 16 children from “malnutrition and dehydration” in recent days.
The UN Security Council on Saturday urged the delivery of humanitarian aid on a “large scale.”
Source: Ambito
