(Doha) The United States presented a revised proposal for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza on Friday after two days of negotiations in Doha, but Hamas immediately rejected Israeli “new conditions” as diplomatic pressure intensifies to avoid a regional military escalation.
The mediators – the United States, Qatar and Egypt – announced the resumption of talks next week in Cairo, after the presentation on Friday in Doha of a new compromise with a view to the “implementation” of an agreement on a ceasefire.
A deal has “never been closer,” said US President Joe Biden, who met with Egyptian and Qatari leaders. The leader also called on all parties not to “undermine” the negotiations.
His Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will travel to Israel this weekend to seek “to reach an agreement” based on the new proposal, according to the State Department.
But two Hamas officials told AFP that the movement rejected “new conditions” from Israel.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, the war triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 continues unabated, and violence continues in the occupied West Bank where a deadly attack by Jewish settlers has sparked outcry.
PHOTO RABIH DAHER, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A fire swept through the Marjayoun plain in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, after it was hit by Israeli shelling on August 16.
After more than ten months of conflict, diplomatic efforts also aim to prevent a response from Iran and its allies, including Hezbollah, to the assassination, attributed to Israel, of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran, and to the death the day before of the military leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement in an Israeli strike near Beirut.
The Israeli Prime Minister called on mediators to “put pressure” on Hamas, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for “direct and effective pressure” on Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephone conversation with the Qatari Prime Minister.
Receiving his counterparts, British David Lammy and French Stéphane Séjourné, in Jerusalem, the head of Israeli diplomacy Katz said he expected his allies to “join Israel” to “attack Iran” if Tehran attacked his country.
Mr. Séjourné considered it “inappropriate to speak of a response […] even defensive” in the midst of diplomatic efforts.
Iran will suffer “cataclysmic” consequences if it attacks Israel, a senior US official has warned.
Hezbollah tunnels?
PHOTO HEZBOLLAH PRESS OFFICE PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This image, taken from a video released by Hezbollah’s press office on August 16, 2024, shows what the footage describes as some of the group’s military capabilities.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah released a video – the authenticity of which AFP could not verify – showing its members moving through large tunnels where trucks appear to be transporting large missiles. In one image, a missile launcher is aimed skyward through a hatch.
In Doha, Hamas did not participate in the negotiations that brought together the heads of American and Israeli intelligence with the mediators, but was kept informed of them.
Among the Israeli “new conditions” rejected by Hamas, one of its officials cited the “maintenance of troops” by Israelis along the Gaza border with Egypt and “a right of veto” over the release of certain Palestinian prisoners.
The talks are based on a plan announced on May 31 by Joe Biden, which provides in the first phase a six-week truce accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for that of Palestinian prisoners.
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said he wants to continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist organisation by his country, the United States and the European Union.
In Gaza, “death and destruction”
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 declared dead by the army.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza has left at least 40,005 dead, according to Hamas’ health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and fighters killed.
PHOTO EYAD BABA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A child looks out of a car window as Palestinians flee Deir el-Balah, August 16.
On Friday, witnesses reported Israeli strikes on Palestinian territory, where the Israeli army said it had “eliminated terrorists” and issued new evacuation orders.
These instructions, concerning sectors of Deir al-Balah (center) and Khan Younès (South) caused the flight of “thousands” of Gazans, forced to “leave hastily, without knowing where to go, in the midst of death and destruction”, according to the UN.
In Khan Younis, AFPTV saw Palestinians flocking to Nasser hospital, carrying bloodied wounded and body bags.
The Palestinian Authority, based in the occupied West Bank, has reported its first case of polio, affecting a ten-month-old child, in Gaza, as the UN calls for “humanitarian pauses” in vaccinating children.
“Burn, kill”
Violence is also flaring in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
On Thursday evening, dozens of Israeli settlers, one of whom was arrested, set fire to buildings and vehicles in the northern village of Jit, according to the army.
The Palestinian Authority reported that a Palestinian was shot dead, denouncing “state terrorism.”
“They were armed with knives, a machine gun and a silencer. Their goal was clear: to burn, kill and destroy,” Hassan Arman told AFP in Jit.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog “condemned” the attack, which was also strongly condemned internationally.
The UN, which considers Israeli colonization in the West Bank illegal, has pointed out “the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of such serious violations.” The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell will propose sanctions against Israeli officials.