What to remember from Friday, August 16

The day was largely focused on the second day of negotiations for a truce in Gaza.

Negotiations for a truce continued in Doha, Qatar, for the second consecutive day on Friday, August 16, in the presence of American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The United States presented a revised proposal for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, but Hamas immediately rejected it. “new conditions” Israelis, as diplomatic pressure intensifies to avoid a regional military escalation. Here’s what to remember from the day.

Benjamin Netanyahu calls on mediators to put “pressure” on Hamas

The Israeli Prime Minister called on the American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to “pressure” on Hamas to reach an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza. “Israel hopes that the pressure [des médiateurs] will bring Hamas to accept” the plan proposed at the end of May by US President Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Washington announced that it had submitted a new compromise proposal, supported by Egypt and Qatar, to “filling the remaining gaps” and which relate to the “implementation” of an agreement by Israel and Hamas, according to a statement from the White House. But very soon after this communication, Hamas rejected these “new conditions” from Israel, two of its executives told AFP. “We will not accept anything less than a complete ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the return of the displaced, an exchange agreement” hostages against prisoners, he added.

Talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza will resume in Cairo next week, according to a joint statement from the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Joe Biden also stressed in a statement that the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, would travel to Israel on Saturday, in particular “to stress that now that the full ceasefire agreement and release of the hostages was in sight, no one in the region should act to undermine this process”.

Iran will face ‘cataclysmic’ consequences if it attacks Israel, Washington warns

Iran will suffer consequences “cataclysmic” in the event of an attack on Israel, assured a senior American official who requested anonymity. “We would like to dissuade the Iranians (…) from taking this path because the consequences would be cataclysmic, particularly for Iran”said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He also warned against any attack that could “to derail” talks on a truce in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that he expected his allies to: “join Israel” For “attack Iran” if the Islamic Republic attacked his country, by receiving his French and British counterparts. “The risk of conflict spreading across the Middle East has never been greater and we must act now to defuse it.”wrote later in a joint statement the foreign ministers of France and the United Kingdom, who were visiting Jerusalem.

First case of polio confirmed in Gaza in 25 years

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health announced that a first case of polio has been confirmed in Gaza. This highly contagious disease, which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours according to the Pasteur Institute, was diagnosed in a “ten month old baby who had not been vaccinated” in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the overpopulated Palestinian territory, the ministry said.

Earlier today, two major UN agencies, WHO and UNICEF, called “humanitarian breaks for seven days” in the fighting in Gaza so that more than 640,000 children under the age of 10 can be vaccinated against polio in the coming weeks. The two organizations say that these campaigns should be launched at the end of August and in September.

France condemns attack on Jewish settlers in West Bank

The resigning Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, judged “unacceptable” the attack by Jewish settlers on a village in the occupied West Bank on Thursday evening, during a meeting in Jerusalem with his Israeli and British counterparts. France “will continue” to adopt sanctions against “of Israeli settlers who have been responsible for violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank”added the ministry spokesman.

Hezbollah releases video

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has released a 4.5-minute video showing what appear to be underground tunnels and large missile launchers, fueling fears of a full-blown conflict between the pro-Iranian movement and Israel.