Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the green light to a new round of talks in Doha and Cairo, with a view to a truce in Gaza, his office said on Friday, after negotiations appeared to be deadlocked.
“Benyamin Netanyahu spoke with the director of Mossad [services extérieurs israéliens] and the director of the Shin bet [renseignement intérieur]and approved a new round of negotiations in the coming days, in Doha and Cairo,” his office said in a statement.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Since the adoption by the United Nations Security Council on Monday of a resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire”, Israel and Hamas have been blaming each other for their inability to reach an agreement on a truce, after almost six months of war between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar, the mediating country, indicated on Tuesday that negotiations between Hamas and Israel on a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages were continuing, but little information had since been communicated by the different parties.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office added that the prime minister had spoken with Mossad chief David Barnea about the negotiations, but did not say whether Mr. Barnea would travel to Doha or Cairo for the talks. .
New deadly bombings in Gaza
Israeli bombings again hit the Gaza Strip on Friday, a besieged Palestinian territory whose population faces an “imminent famine” according to the World Food Program (WFP), almost six months after the start of the war with Hamas.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A little girl stands in a building destroyed during a nighttime Israeli bombardment in Rafah on March 29.
The Hamas Ministry of Health reported in the morning “dozens of deaths” during fighting and air raids, particularly in Rafah (South), a city considered by Israel to be the last major Hamas stronghold and where 1, 5 million Palestinians, the vast majority displaced by hostilities.
In addition to the human toll and destruction, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged Palestinian territory, where the majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants are now threatened with famine according to the UN, which deplores largely insufficient aid to respond to the needs of the population.
“There is no other place in the world where such a large number of people face imminent famine,” lamented Thursday on X Matthew Hollingworth, responsible for the Palestinian territories at the WFP.
” Without delay ”
Israel must “ensure without delay” that the provision by all interested parties of urgently required basic services and humanitarian assistance is ensured “without restriction and on a large scale,” the International Court of Justice declared on Thursday. justice (ICJ) based in The Hague.
Seized by South Africa, the court ordered Israel in January to do everything possible to prevent a “genocide” in the Palestinian territory, Israel deeming such accusations “scandalous”.
During the night, Hamas welcomed the ICJ’s decision and called for its “immediate implementation”.
Faced with the humanitarian emergency, several countries are organizing airdrops and aid expeditions by sea, but all emphasize that these supply routes cannot replace land routes.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out from the Gaza Strip by Hamas on October 7 in Israel which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official Israeli data.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man sits in the rubble of a house hit by an Israeli bombardment in the Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 29.
According to Israel, around 250 people were also kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom died.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas — which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union — and launched an offensive that left 32,623 people dead, mostly women and men. children, according to a latest report Friday from the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“Enter Rafah”
The Israeli army, which accuses Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals, said Friday it was continuing its operations in the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza City (north), saying it had “eliminated around 200 terrorists” in the sector since March 18.
She stressed ensuring “preventing any harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and equipment”.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, the army said it had “destroyed numerous rockets intended to be fired towards Israel”, and eliminated “terrorists”.
Operations are also continuing in Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in the areas of Al-Amal and Al Qarara, where Palestinian fighters were also killed, according to her.
In Khan Younes, several injured people were transported by ambulance to the European hospital during the night, according to AFP images. Some victims, including children, were treated on the ground.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Women mourn the death of a child killed in an Israeli bombing at the European hospital in Khan Yunis on March 29.
” Nothing has changed ”
In Rafah, further south, dozens of men worked to clear the rubble of a bombed building of wounded and bodies, from which a young boy was extracted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau on Thursday reaffirmed his determination to launch a ground offensive in Rafah despite international pressure, including from the United States.
“We hold the north of the Gaza Strip as well as Khan Younes (South). We have cut the Gaza Strip in two and we are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said.
The United States, Israel’s main ally which fears the human toll of such an operation, recently requested the sending of an Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss this project.
A UN resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” was adopted Monday after the United States abstained, but “nothing has changed” on the ground since then, lamented the international president of Doctors Without Borders. borders Christos Christou.