West Bank: Settlers attack village and kill Palestinians

After the start of negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza war, there is still a gap between the positions of Israel and the Islamist Hamas. The talks are expected to continue today in Qatar’s capital Doha under the mediation of the USA, Qatar and Egypt. There is little hope of a breakthrough.

The positions of both conflicting parties in the indirect negotiations will ultimately be decided by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of Hamas, Jihia al-Sinwar. “I don’t think the deep divide between these two can be overcome,” Michael Milshtein, a former head of the Palestinian department of the Israeli military intelligence service, told the Wall Street Journal. “Unfortunately, they are the most important decision-makers on both sides.”

Militant Jewish settlers attack village in West Bank

Meanwhile, an attack by militant Jewish settlers on a village in the occupied West Bank caused horror and outrage. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, a 22-year-old Palestinian was killed.

The Palestinian Authority has strongly condemned the attack. The Foreign Ministry in Ramallah declared that the act was “organized state terrorism.” According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, one person was killed and another was seriously injured in the attack on Thursday.

Dozens of masked settlers stormed the Palestinian village of Jit, ten kilometers west of Nablus, and set fire to at least four houses and six cars, the Times of Israel reported, citing a source in the Israeli security apparatus. More than 100 people are said to have been involved. Israeli security forces then appeared and drove the settlers away, Israeli media reported. According to the Times of Israel, the army arrested an Israeli and handed him over to the police.

Israel’s Defense Minister sharply criticizes attack

“Violent, radical riots are the opposite of everything the Israeli state upholds in terms of code and values,” wrote Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant on Platform X. He said he would support the military and the investigative authorities in “dealing with this problem.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office announced that the head of government was taking the riots “extremely seriously.” Those responsible would be caught and brought to justice. Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid condemned the outbreak of violence. The media quoted him as saying that this had reached a “moral low point.” “This has nothing to do with Judaism.”

Demonstration in Tel Aviv for hostage agreement

Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip following the massacre by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in the Israeli border region on October 7 last year, the situation in the West Bank has continued to deteriorate significantly. According to the Ministry of Health, 605 Palestinians have since been killed in the West Bank in Israeli military operations, confrontations or attacks. There has also been an increase in violence by settlers against Palestinians.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of ongoing talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza war, relatives of hostages and sympathizers demonstrated in Tel Aviv for quick results. According to media reports, participants in the march through the city center of the coastal metropolis shouted to the Israeli negotiators: “Don’t come home without a deal!”

Ceasefire and release of hostages

In addition to a ceasefire, the talks in Doha also aim to release 115 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. Hamas is not taking part in the negotiations, but according to dpa information, it will be kept informed about their content on an ongoing basis.

The pressure on the negotiators has increased because a potentially serious retaliatory attack on Israel by Iran and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon is expected following the killing of two of Israel’s key opponents. US President Joe Biden had already spoken of a “decisive moment” for the negotiations in May.

Hamas does not want to negotiate new conditions

However, the chances of implementing his plan, which is divided into three phases, are considered slim. The gap between the parties is “still large,” a high-ranking Egyptian official told the Wall Street Journal. However, efforts are being made to reach a consensus, he said on the evening of the first day of negotiations in Doha.

Hamas will not negotiate new conditions, its spokesman Osama Hamdan told dpa. The only focus should be on implementing the plan presented by Biden in May. He accused Israel of blocking the negotiations by imposing new conditions – such as refusing to withdraw from the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, which runs along the border with Egypt in southern Gaza.

Netanyahu against complete withdrawal

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the other hand, has said that the Israeli army must continue to control the Philadelphia Corridor even after a ceasefire.

Despite all efforts, the mediators have not succeeded in putting enough pressure on the Israeli side to ensure that it adheres to the ceasefire plans presented in May, complained Hamas spokesman Hamdan. Israel “does not want a ceasefire.” Netanyahu, on the other hand, accused Hamas of being the one who had imposed new conditions.

Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday during a visit to the Philadelphia Corridor that the army could maintain control here even without a permanent presence and with only sporadic advances.

Netanyahu sticks to war goal

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to crush Hamas militarily and ensure that it is no longer able to govern the Gaza Strip, which has been sealed off by Israel for many years. Hamas leader Sinwar, on the other hand, is clearly counting on Hamas to win by surviving as a group. He explained to the mediators that the deaths of Palestinian civilians would be to his advantage because Israel would be internationally condemned for it, the Wall Street Journal recently wrote.

Sinwar is suspected of being in Hamas’ extensive network of tunnels beneath the sealed-off coastal strip. He is believed to be the mastermind of the terrorist attack by Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7. Around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were abducted into the Gaza Strip.

The unprecedented massacre triggered the war: Israel began massive attacks across the entire coastal strip. Since then, according to Palestinian sources, the number of victims has risen to more than 40,000 dead and 92,400 injured. The Hamas-controlled health authority does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in the figures, which cannot be independently verified.