American Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that he was determined to secure a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas “now” combined with the release of hostages, calling on the Palestinian movement to accept the latest proposal.
In the seventh month of a devastating war triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 against Israel, Israeli aerial bombardments on the Gaza Strip have seen no respite, leaving at least 33 dead in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Hamas has not yet given its response to the latest proposal providing for a 40-day truce and the exchange of hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack and taken to Gaza for Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.
According to an Israeli official, Israel will wait until “Wednesday evening” for a response from Hamas before deciding whether it will send a delegation to Cairo with a view to a possible agreement.
After a meeting in Cairo on Monday of a Hamas delegation with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, a source close to the movement affirmed that the latter should give its response “as quickly as possible”.
“Even in these difficult times, we are determined to secure a ceasefire bringing the hostages home and to achieve it now. And the only reason why it wouldn’t happen is Hamas,” Blinken said while meeting President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.
“Hamas must say yes”
Mr. Blinken, for whom the new proposal is “extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel”, then told Israeli demonstrators hostile to the war in Tel Aviv: “Hamas must say yes”.
At the end of November, a one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis and dual nationals exchanged for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, is primarily demanding a “permanent” ceasefire before any agreement, which Israel refuses.
Expert Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group think tank told AFP he was “pessimistic about the option that Hamas would accept a deal that does not include a permanent ceasefire.” .
In Jerusalem, Mr. Blinken, who is on his seventh mission to the Middle East since the start of the war, had a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom he reiterated American opposition to an Israeli assault on the city from Rafah, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Mr. Blinken “reiterated the clear position of the United States on Rafah,” said Matthew Miller, regarding the ground assault on the city, which the prime minister refuses to renounce despite opposition from the UN and many capitals, which fear carnage among the approximately 1.5 million civilians crowded there, the vast majority displaced.
Mr. Netanyahu reiterated Tuesday that he was determined to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, a city he considers to be the last bastion of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and where around 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together, largely majority of the displaced.
“The idea of stopping the war before having achieved all our objectives is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there, with or without a truce agreement, he said.
Fighting and bombing in Gaza
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel carried out an attack which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data.
More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas and its army launched a large-scale offensive – air then land – in the besieged strip, which has so far left 34,568 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Defense. Hamas Health.
Before dawn, the Israeli air force carried out several strikes in the north and center of the Palestinian territory, including the Nusseirat refugee camp where witnesses reported clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers.
While the war has caused a “humanitarian hell” in Gaza according to UN chief Antonio Guterres, the displaced families in Rafah are suffering, after the cold, the rising heat, and find themselves threatened, without running water, by the spread of disease and famine.
International aid, strictly controlled by Israel, arrives in trickles mainly from Egypt via Rafah, but remains very insufficient given the immense needs of the 2.4 million Gazans.
The United States, which is pressuring Israel to facilitate the entry of aid by road, is building a floating port facing the Gaza coast to accommodate aid arriving by boat from Cyprus. Israel also opened the Erez crossing near Gaza for aid from Jordan.
” A danger “
After statements by Israeli officials New York Times Expecting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders for their conduct of the war in Gaza, President Herzog said a possible indictment would represent “a danger to democracies “.
According to the American daily, the ICC is also considering indicting Hamas leaders.
In the United States, where many university leaders are facing demonstrators who occupy their campuses to oppose the Israeli offensive in Gaza, clashes have broken out between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators on the campus of the UCLA University in Los Angeles, according to CNN.