Negotiations resumed on Sunday in Cairo with a view to obtaining a truce between Israel and Hamas during Ramadan in the Gaza Strip, where deadly Israeli bombings continue while the Palestinian territory is threatened with famine according to the UN.
According to an Egyptian pro-government media outlet, representatives from Qatar and the United States arrived in Cairo, where Hamas envoys are expected to “give them a response to the proposal drawn up in Paris” at the end of January, said a source close to the Palestinian Islamist movement. .
The proposal from the mediating countries – Qatar, United States, Egypt – concerns a six-week pause in the fighting and the release of 42 hostages held in Gaza compared to that of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The aim is to achieve a truce before the start of the Muslim fasting month, which will begin on March 10 or 11 this year.
“The Israelis have accepted in principle the elements of the agreement,” assured a senior American official in Washington on Saturday, but Israel has not confirmed this information.
A truce could be signed within “24-48 hours” if Israel “accepts Hamas’ demands”, a senior official of the Palestinian movement told AFP on Sunday, on condition of anonymity.
They include “the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid” of the order of “400 to 500 trucks per day,” he added, compared to around 80 currently.
And Israel, which has so far not announced any intention to join negotiations in Egypt, is demanding that Hamas provide a list of the 130 hostages still being held in Gaza, including more than 30 who are believed to have died.
Family decimated
In exchange for a release of hostages, the Palestinian movement is also demanding a definitive ceasefire and an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, where several nighttime airstrikes have again targeted the towns of Khan Younes and Rafah, in the south. , according to an AFP correspondent.
Hamas also said heavy artillery fire targeted Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Zeitoun and Tal al-Hawa in the north.
In nearly five months of war in Gaza, Israeli military operations launched in retaliation for the unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7 have left 30,410 dead, the majority civilians, according to a latest report Sunday from the Ministry of Defense. Health of Hamas.
He reported 90 deaths in 24 hours, including 14 members of the Abou Anza family, including the twin babies a few months old Naïm and Wissam, in a strike on their house in Rafah.
“Honestly, there was no military presence in the house, only civilians,” Shehda Abou Anza, a nephew, told AFP. “There were perhaps more than 15 children in this completely destroyed four-story house.” “All babies and young children.”
The war has also caused a humanitarian catastrophe and famine is “virtually inevitable” for 2.2 million people, the vast majority of Gaza’s population, according to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA. United Nations agency for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
Help on a massive scale
The UN Security Council on Saturday expressed “grave concern” and called for the unhindered delivery of “large-scale” humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Faced with the difficulties of transporting it by road in the territory sealed off by Israel, several countries have carried out airdrops of aid to the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, including the United States on Saturday.
In Rome, Pope Francis called for guaranteeing “safe access” to humanitarian aid for the population in “urgent need”.
The attack carried out by Hamas commandos on October 7 resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Around 250 people were also kidnapped and, according to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 31 of whom are believed to have died. A truce at the end of November allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees.
The Israeli army announced on Sunday the death of one of its soldiers in Gaza, bringing to 246 the number of soldiers killed since the start of ground operations on October 27.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the upcoming launch of a major operation on Rafah, to defeat Hamas in its “last bastion”.
This prospect worries the international community because the city is home to nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority displaced, trapped against the closed border with Egypt.
Preliminary investigation
Cargoes by land, subject to the green light from Israel which has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007, only arrive in very limited quantities via Rafah, from Egypt, according to the UN.
Their transport, particularly in the north of the territory, is perilous due to fighting, Israeli bombings, rubble blocking roads and sometimes looting.
An aid distribution in Gaza City turned tragic on Thursday when several hundred people rushed onto humanitarian aid trucks.
Hamas claims the Israeli army opened fire on the hungry crowd. Israel spoke of shootings on Sunday against “several thieves” who represented “an immediate threat” to the soldiers responsible for securing the area.
The preliminary investigation “confirmed that no strike was carried out by [l’armée] in the direction of the aid convoy,” said Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari. “The majority of Palestinians were killed or injured following the stampede” to seize the trucks’ cargo, he assured.
The tragedy left 118 dead and 760 injured, according to Hamas, and the international community called for an investigation.
A UN team said it found “a large number” of gunshot wounds in a hospital in the city where many victims had been admitted.