Hassan Al-Warfalli (Cairo)
A new round of truce negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides will begin today in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in the presence of officials from the United States and Qatar, and with the participation of Egyptian officials, according to informed sources.
The sources indicated that the meetings will focus on ways to restore calm to the Gaza Strip, after the Egyptian side intensified its contacts to hold a new round of discussions.
In turn, the Palestinian factions announced that a delegation would arrive in Cairo, on Sunday, to participate in a new round of truce negotiations, indicating their adherence to the position they presented last March 14, especially ending the Israeli war with a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, and the return of the displaced. To their places of residence, freedom of movement of people, relief and shelter, and concluding a prisoner exchange deal.
The Israeli government is committed to exerting more military pressure on the Palestinian factions, in order to accept the conditions proposed by Tel Aviv in the negotiating process to conclude a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal, while the factions confirm their adherence to their conditions, which aim to end the war completely.
An informed source revealed to Al-Ittihad that there is an Egyptian-American desire to reach a quick ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, and to push for the success of a prisoner exchange deal as quickly as possible, in light of the catastrophic and deteriorating living situation in Gaza, and the state of instability it is witnessing. region during the past months.
The source confirmed that Cairo has intensified its contacts and pressure to host a new round of discussions, indicating the United States’ support for the moves led by Cairo in order to restore calm to the Gaza Strip and push towards reaching a prisoner exchange deal in the near future, pointing to the existence of high-level Egyptian-American coordination during the weeks. past.
The source pointed out that the Egyptian vision is based on the necessity of reaching an agreement to stop the war first, then moving forward with intensive discussions to agree on the next day for the war on Gaza, in addition to intensifying efforts to flood the Strip with more humanitarian, food and medical aid in light of the current famine, and working to eliminate The fuse of the crisis in the Middle East, with the escalation of military escalation over the past weeks.
In Tel Aviv, the families of the Israeli hostages continue their demonstrations in the streets of Israel to demand the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian factions, as part of the pressure exerted by the families of the detainees on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to make concessions in order to reach an agreement.
With the escalation of the human toll, the humanitarian crisis, and the threat of famine in the Strip, which is home to 2.4 million people, Washington, which supports Israel, toughened its tone this week.
US President Joe Biden informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the need to protect Palestinian civilians and reach an “immediate ceasefire” that would allow the release of the Israeli hostages who are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
The talks have been faltering for weeks, amid the exchange of accusations between the Palestinian factions and Israel of “evasiveness” and “extremism.”
The two parties had previously reached a truce for a week in late November, which allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and the release of 240 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
During the attack, about 250 people were kidnapped, 129 of whom are still hostage in Gaza, and 34 of them are believed to have died, according to official Israeli estimates.
The hostage issue is causing increasing internal pressure on the Israeli government, with mass movements in the street demanding the conclusion of an agreement to return them to their families.
The Israeli army announced, in a statement, that it had recovered the body of a hostage overnight in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli military official stated that Katzir's death dates back to mid-January, days after he appeared in a video in which he called on the Israeli government to do everything in its power to secure his release.
The Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, Yaakov Livni, said in a post on a social media network that Katzir also holds Polish citizenship.
Aid transportation
Yesterday, the United Nations Human Rights Council called for a halt to any arms sales to Israel, in a resolution that expressed fears of “genocide” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
International pressure is increasing on Israel to allow more aid to enter.
The day before yesterday, Israel announced allowing the transfer of aid “temporarily” through the port of Ashdod, located about 40 kilometers north of Gaza, and through the Erez “Beit Hanina” crossing between it and the northern Gaza Strip, and also “increasing Jordanian aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing” with South of the sector.
While Biden saw that Israel was doing what Washington requested in terms of delivering aid the day after his warning to Netanyahu, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres considered the announced measures to be “dispersed” and insufficient.
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