03/03/2024 – 14:54
The goal of talks in Egypt, including representatives from Qatar and the USA, would be a truce before the Muslim holiday Ramadan. According to an American source, Tel Aviv has already accepted the proposal, and “the ball is in Hamas' court”. International delegations arrived this Sunday (03/03) in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to resume negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, which controls part of the Gaza Strip. The goal is a six-week truce.
Palestinian sources confirmed the arrival of representatives from Qatar and the United States, as well as a Hamas negotiating team, which would however be headed by the organization's number two, Jalil al Hayya, and not by the leader of the group's political office, Ismail Haniyeh.
So far it has not been possible to confirm the presence of an Israeli delegation, although high-ranking Egyptian sources, cited by the television channel Al Qahera News, have assured that the new round of talks in Cairo would have the participation of “all parties”. .
“The Cairo meetings aim to find an acceptable formula for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire amid growing pressure to do so before the start of Ramadan,” the Palestinian sources reported. The Muslim month of fasting begins between March 10th and 11th.
Al Qahera News, associated with the Egyptian intelligence services, reported “remarkable progress” in the late February talks in Doha.
“The ball is in Hamas’ court”
This Saturday, on condition of anonymity, a senior US government official told reporters that Israel had “more or less accepted” a proposal for a six-week ceasefire in its war against Hamas.
According to the American source, the truce would begin immediately if Hamas agreed to release “certain categories of vulnerable hostages”: sick, injured, elderly and women. “At the moment, the ball is in Hamas’ court”, he concluded.
Hamas insists that a temporary truce be accompanied by an agreement to cease hostilities in a second phase, which comes up against frontal opposition from Israel, determined to continue its ground offensive in the city of Rafah, in the extreme south of Gaza, on the border with Egypt, where there are more than 1.4 million displaced people.
Also on Saturday, the US began airdropping food and medical packages into the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian conditions in the region under attack are deplorable: according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory, more than ten children have died from malnutrition in recent days.
The current conflict between Israel and Hamas – which began on October 7, 2023, with a series of deadly attacks on Israeli territory – has already killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis. During the only week-long truce since then, at the end of November, 105 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
av (AFP,AP,EFE)
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