Israel and Hamas They could begin next Monday a truce that would extend during the month of Ramadan, the US president revealed. Joe Bidenwho raised the possibility of an agreement that includes the release of dozens of hostages in Gaza.
The plan – mediated by Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and others – seeks a six-week ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Loop since the Hamas attacks of October 7, which sparked the war.
It could also include the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails, according to the media.
“My hope is that we have a ceasefire by next Monday,” Biden told reporters during a trip to New York, when asked when a truce would begin.
“We are close, we are not there yet”he claimed.
He later assured that an agreement “in principle” is within reach for a truce that would extend during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10 or 11.
The emir of Qatar, Tamim ben Hamad Al Thani, whose mediation was key to closing a first truce in November, will visit Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday, the French presidency announced.
The emir met with the political head of HamasIsmail Haniyeh, Qatar as part of efforts for an “agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” according to the official Qatar News Agency.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said they are advocating for a truce before Ramadan and are “hopeful,” though not necessarily optimistic, of reaching an announcement this Tuesday or Wednesday.
“Total victory”
The November agreement allowed a one-week pause in the fighting that broke out after the October 7 attack by Hamas, whose fighters killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, according to an AFP report. based on Israeli data. Among the dead there are more than 300 soldiers.
They also kidnapped about 250 people. Of them, 130 are still held in the enclave, including 31 who are believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
The action triggered an Israeli air and ground offensive on Gaza in which 29,878 people have died, especially women, adolescents and minors, according to the Minister of Health of this territory controlled since 2007 by Hamas.
Despite these negotiations and international pressure, including that of the United States, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahusaid that a truce could delay but not prevent its ground operation on Rafah, in the south of Loop.
According to Netanyahu, this action is necessary to achieve a “total victory” over Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said Monday that his military presented a plan to evacuate civilians.
The city on the southern tip of Gaza has already been a target of the Israeli bombing campaign. In one of them, Sharif Muammar’s son died, whose lifeless body was extracted from the rubble.
“There was no one here, only children.”said the father through tears.
A “systematic” blockage of aid to Gaza
The UN warns that 2.2 million Gazans, the majority of the population, face “mass famine.”
Humanitarian aid arrives in dribs and drabs and depends on the approval of Israel, which imposed a total siege on the enclave.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that the troops of Israel They “systematically” block their access to the population of Gaza.
“All convoys are shot at and people in need are systematically denied access,” said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson.
“We are starving,” said Abdullah al Aqra, 40, a refugee in western Gaza City after fleeing Beit Lahia further north.
The Palestinian Red Crescent, which coordinates its missions in Gaza with the Israeli authorities, announced that it is suspending its operations for 48 hours because it cannot guarantee the safety of its personnel.
In the northern occupied West Bank, Israeli troops killed three Palestinians during a nighttime raid on the Faraa refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health.
This Palestinian territory has suffered an increase in violence since the start of the war in Gaza and at least 403 people have been killed by Israeli army operations or in settler attacks, according to the Ministry.
Source: Gestion
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