Hamas seeks to negotiate a truce in Egypt; Death toll in Gaza rises to more than 27,800

First modification: 02/08/2024 – 13:41

5 min

The mediators are trying to rescue the possibility of a new truce in Gaza.

Despite the refusal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a delegation from the Islamist group arrived in Egypt this Thursday, February 8, for new talks on an eventual ceasefire, local press reported.

Shortly before, Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, confirmed during a press conference in Beirut that representatives of his movement were heading to Cairo, in an effort not to let the proposal for a cessation of hostilities sink.

“A new round of negotiations” will begin this Thursday in Cairo with the aim of achieving “calm in the Gaza Strip,” an Egyptian government official told AFP.

The push from Egypt – one of the mediators between the parties to the conflict, along with Qatar and the US – to not rule out a provisional ceasefire, occurs at the same time that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pressing for a pause. of the continuous attacks, in the middle of his fifth tour of the region.

With that purpose at the center of his agenda, Blinken arrived in Israel on Wednesday, February 7 and is expected to head to the West Bank, after visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Efforts to safeguard a route leading to a pause in the attacks intensify a day after Netanyahu rejected Hamas' counteroffer and ordered his troops to raid Rafaha city in the extreme south of Gaza territory and the last corner where the majority of civilians try to protect themselves from the incessant military siege.

For the Israeli premier, the conditions of the Islamist group were “delirious.” Hamas proposed a truce divided into three stages, each lasting 45 days, for a total of 145 days. Time in which the exchange of the more than 100 kidnapped people who remain in their possession, for around 1,500 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, should be completed.

But above all, the movement aimed at a path to a complete cessation of the ongoing war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. Netanyahu insisted on his stated goal of “eradicating” Hamas.

Jordan joins efforts for a cessation of hostilities in Gaza

While official mediators advance talks, King Abdullah II of Jordan began his own tour of the main Western capitals this Thursday, which will take him to the United States, where he plans to meet with President Joe Biden, congressional leaders and other officials of the the administration.

The monarch is pushing not only for a truce, but for an end to the current war in the Palestinian enclave, the royal palace said.

To this end, the Jordanian king will also make his first official visit to France and Germany.

At least 130 Gazans killed in the last 24 hours; total number of victims rises to more than 27,800

Israeli bombs and artillery attacks continue to hit the Gazan population by air and land along the besieged coastal strip, but in recent days with special emphasis on the south. This February 8, soldiers intensified their assaults in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where most of the forcibly displaced population is located.

In addition, The Army of the State of Jewish majority assured that its soldiers killed more than 20 “Palestinian militants”, in the last 24 hours, during their attacks on Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza,

In addition, Netanyahu's troops claim that they captured “dozens” of suspects of having participated in the bloody Hamas assault on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the escalation of the conflict.

It is not the first time that Israel claims to have detained suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the ongoing war. However, the UN has previously denounced the arrest of civilians, including journalists and UNRWA workers, who have been subjected to abuses and human rights violations by Israeli forces, as noted in a report issued on January 19.

For its part, the Gaza Ministry of Health indicated this Thursday that At least 130 people were killed and 170 injured in the last day during Israeli attacks. The total number of fatalities rose to 27,840, the vast majority are civiliansespecially women and children, indicated the Health portfolio.

Other humanitarian organizations join the complaints from the UN and Gaza health officials about attacks on civilians by the Israeli Army.

In the last hours, The Palestinian Red Crescent said that the military “deliberately” attacked a team from its organization while it was evacuating wounded people in Gaza.

The troops caused “the death of paramedic Mohammed Al-Omari and the injury of two other people. This brings to 12 the number of colleagues killed while carrying out their humanitarian work since the beginning of the war in Gaza,” declared the mission that is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

With Reuters, AFP and local media