Hamas announced on Saturday that it was “studying” an Israeli counter-proposal with a view to a truce in the fighting in Gaza associated with the release of hostages, the day after the arrival in Israel of a delegation of Egyptian mediators to try to relaunch the deadlocked negotiations.
The war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has raged since October 7 in the Gaza Strip where the overcrowded town of Rafah, located at the southern tip of the border with Egypt, was targeted overnight by at least three airstrikes, according to an AFP correspondent.
“Today, Hamas received the official response from the Zionist occupation [Israël, NDLR] to our position which had been handed over to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13,” declared the number 2 of the Hamas political branch for Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya.
“The movement will study this proposal and submit its response once its study is completed,” he added in a press release published on Saturday.
Hamas had previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire, a hypothesis rejected by Israel, which instead insisted on a pause of several weeks in the fighting.
Israel is preparing to launch a ground offensive in Rafah despite international fears. Many capitals and humanitarian organizations fear a bloodbath in this city where a million and a half Palestinians are crowded together, many in tent camps, without water or electricity.
Framework for a “ceasefire”
After six and a half months of bombing and ground fighting, Israel estimates that Hamas has four battalions grouped in this city.
The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out against Israel by Hamas commandos, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis.
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, in power in Gaza since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union. His army launched an offensive which left a total of 34,388 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health.
PHOTO HATEM KHALED, REUTERS
A child mourns the deaths of those killed during nighttime Israeli bombings in Rafah on April 27.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States are trying in vain to reach a new truce agreement in Gaza, after a week-long pause in fighting in November, which saw the exchange of 80 hostages for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The details of the Israeli counter-proposal have not filtered out but the Israeli press mentioned earlier this week the possible release, initially, of 20 hostages considered to be “humanitarian cases”.
On Friday, an Egyptian delegation arrived in Israel to discuss a “comprehensive framework for a ceasefire” in Gaza, according to Egyptian intelligence outlet Al-Qahera News, citing a senior Egyptian official.
” We are tired ”
The war between Israel and Hamas will also be at the center of meetings with high-ranking Arab and European diplomats, including the French and German foreign ministers, expected this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
A special meeting of the World Economic Forum, scheduled to begin Sunday in the capital Riyadh, will include a session on Gaza on Monday, attended by the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, and Sigrid Kaag, coordinator of United Nations aid for the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said its planes had struck more than 25 targets over the previous day in the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People view the damage to a house destroyed by Israeli nighttime bombing in Rafah on April 27.
After six and a half months of aerial bombardments, artillery fire and ground fighting, the war devastated Gaza where the UN estimates the mass of debris and rubble to be cleared at 37 million tonnes.
The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that famine poses “a real and dangerous threat” in Gaza.
In the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip where intense fighting raged in February, some residents said they preferred to return to live in the ruins.
“We are tired after seven months of displacement and struggle in the camps. So we insisted on returning and staying in a tent on the rubble of our house,” said Abdelqader Mohammed Qwaider.
Lebanon, Yemen, United States
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), “the backbone of humanitarian operations” in Gaza according to its boss, Philippe Lazzarini, is facing a drop in its funding after Israel’s accusations in January according to which several of its employees were involved in the October 7 attack.
The UN announced on Friday that it had closed or suspended five cases out of 19 targeting UNRWA employees.
The war between Israel and Hamas has caused an outbreak of violence on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where there are daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, supported by Iran.
In Yemen, the Houthi rebels, also supported by Iran and claiming to act in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, claimed responsibility during the night from Friday to Saturday for attacks which damaged theAndromeda Stara ship sailing in the Red Sea according to the United States Middle East Command (CENTCOM).
In the United States, Israel’s close ally, a protest movement against the war in Gaza is spreading on campuses, after leaving Columbia University in New York more than a week ago.