Several thousand people took part in a demonstration in Paris on Saturday to demand an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
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The Mossad and the CIA met on Friday, March 9, as part of negotiations around a truce in the Gaza Strip, devastated by more than five months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israeli authorities said in a statement.
They accuse the Palestinian Islamist movement of “to stand firm like someone who is not interested in an agreement and is trying to inflame the region during Ramadan”, accuse the Israeli authorities in this text. Franceinfo takes stock of the highlights of the day.
Thousands of demonstrators in Paris, for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza
Several thousand people participated in a demonstration in Paris attended by pro-Palestinian activist and European candidate Rima Hassan, to demand a “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, after a little more than five months of war between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.
According to the police headquarters, the procession brought together 11,500 demonstrators. An organizer announced “60,000 people” at the microphone.
Responding to a call from the Urgence Palestine collective, supported by France Insoumise (LFI), the demonstrators, who brandished posters proclaiming “SOS Gaza” and Palestinian flags, left from Place de la République and completed their march around 5 p.m. hours on the Place de la Bourse.
The heads of Mossad and the CIA met on Friday
The heads of the Israeli and American intelligence services, Mossad and the CIA, met Friday as part of negotiations around a truce in Gaza, said Israeli authorities who accuse Hamas of hardening its position.
“Mossad chief David Barnea met yesterday [vendredi] CIA chief Bill Burns as part of ongoing efforts to move toward another hostage release deal.” detained in Gaza, specifies a press release published by the services of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on behalf of the Mossad.
“Contacts and cooperation with the mediators continue continuously in an attempt to reduce differences and move towards agreements,” continues the press release. But “For the moment, Hamas is sticking to its guns like someone who is not interested in an agreement and is trying to inflame the region during Ramadan,” accuse the Israeli authorities in this text.
Aid ship ‘ready’ to leave Cyprus for Gaza
Two NGOs are soon “ready” to send from Cyprus to Gaza a boat loaded with 200 tonnes of food, the first cargo intended for this territory devastated by war via a maritime corridor that the European Commission hopes to see open this weekend.
“Everything will be ready today to be able to leave”declared Laura Lanuza, spokesperson for the Spanish NGO Open Arms, partner in this project of the American NGO of the Spanish-American chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK).
“Everything will depend on the arrival of authorizations and permits, we don’t know if it will be today or tomorrow,” she added.
She specified that the Israeli authorities – who authorized the principle of this operation like the Cypriot authorities – were in the process of inspecting the cargo of “200 tonnes of food, rice, flour, cans of tuna”, in the port of Larnaca.
The war in Gaza has shattered “all sense of shared humanity” deplores the ICRC
After five months of war between Israel and Hamas, “The situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating by the hour. There is no safe place to go. The number of civilian deaths and the detention of hostages are shocking and unacceptable,” said the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, in a statement.
“This brutal war has shattered any sense of shared humanity,” she added. Faced with these “deep suffering”, The ICRC launches three urgent appeals. The Geneva-based organization calls for “a cessation of hostilities” to facilitate the work of humanitarians.
The ICRC also reiterates its request to be authorized to visit the hostages taken during the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil on October 7, as well as their release. “without condition”. Mirjana Spoljaric also calls for respect for their dignity, their safety and their medical needs.