Hamas is studying on Tuesday a proposed truce in the war against Israel accompanied by the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians returning to the large southern city are overwhelmed by the scale of destruction after the Israeli withdrawal .
Six months after the start of the war triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Israeli military operations continue against the devastated Gaza Strip and on the verge of famine according to the UN.
During yet another session of negotiations in Cairo, the mediating countries – Qatar, Egypt, United States – put on the table a new proposal in three stages, the first of which provides for a six-week truce, said Monday evening a Hamas source.
Saying it “wished” for an agreement, the movement indicated in a statement that Israel “had not responded to any” of its demands.
“Despite this, the leadership of the movement is studying the proposal […] and will inform the mediators of its response,” added Hamas, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims.
In addition to a six-week ceasefire, the proposal initially provides for the release of 42 hostages in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the entry of 400 to 500 trucks of food aid per day and the return home of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, according to the source within Hamas.
Hamas is demanding a definitive ceasefire, the Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza and a significant increase in aid, the delivery of which by land is strictly controlled by Israel, which has besieged the territory since October 9.
” In ruins “
Without subscribing to a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, Israel announced on Sunday the withdrawal of its troops from Khan Younes, the largest city in the south of the small territory transformed into fields of ruins. by Israeli bombings and fierce fighting.
He also reported the entry of 419 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip on Monday, the highest number he said since the start of the war.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed al-Ansari told the BBC he was more “optimistic” than a few days ago, but according to him the negotiations are far from being in their final “stretch”.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack in Israel, resulting in the death of 1,170 people, the majority civilians, according to a report established by AFP based on official Israeli figures. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain detained in Gaza, 34 of whom have died, according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to wipe out the Islamist movement that took power in Gaza in 2007. Its army launched a campaign of intense aerial bombardments followed by a ground offensive, which has so far left 33,207 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The war has also caused colossal destruction, displaced at least 1.7 million people out of the 2.4 million inhabitants and resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Houses, schools, hospitals are in ruins. Teachers, doctors, humanitarian workers are killed. Famine is imminent,” criticized the head of UNICEF, Catherine Russell.
“Gaza is no longer Gaza”
In Deir el-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital received injured people during the night, including children, some carried by their parents, according to AFP images. A boy with a bloody face sitting on the floor is treated by staff. Another Palestinian injured in the legs is carried on a stretcher.
On Tuesday, the army announced in a press release that it had destroyed “terrorist infrastructure” in several sectors of Gaza and that a “plane eliminated a terrorist in Khan Younes who had participated in the October 7 massacre.” She reported fighting in the center of the territory and the “elimination of several terrorists”.
Immediately after the announcement of the Israeli withdrawal from Khan Younes, thousands of displaced people returned to the city, a few kilometers further north, to discover an apocalyptic landscape.
“No more water, no more electricity, no more columns, no more walls, no more doors, there is nothing left. Gaza is no longer Gaza, it is a place in ruins,” says a woman who returned to Khan Younès, who refuses to give her name.
“There is nothing left of the family home. “It’s indescribable,” says another, Safa Qandil. »
Israel spoke of a tactical withdrawal from Khan Younes which would allow soldiers to prepare “the continuation of their missions in the area of Rafah”, a city stuck on the closed border of Egypt where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together. mostly displaced people.
“Catastrophic suffering”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, determined to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, according to him the last bastion of Hamas in Gaza, said on Sunday: “it will be done – there is a date”. Without specifying it.
And the American ally reiterated its opposition to a “massive military invasion of Rafah”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II also warned of the “dangerous consequences” of such an offensive, in an article published in four newspapers including The world.
They also called for a ceasefire and the release of “all hostages”.
Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, has restricted its exports to Israel. The latter denounced a “violation of trade agreements”.