Hamas is freezing hopes of a truce in Gaza as the Israeli army continues to pound the Strip and extend control over other areas of the Palestinian enclave. “No dialogue on the hostages is possible”, including the proposal of a week's break in exchange for 40 of them, unless the Jewish State puts an “end to its aggression”, warned the spokesperson of the al Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, Abu Obeida, clarifying that if Israel “wants its prisoners to live, it has no other way than to stop the aggression and the war.” An ultimatum flatly rejected by Benyamin Netanyahu: «We will not stop. Hamas has no choice but to surrender or die.”
The position of the Islamic faction – apparently also shared by the Palestinian prisoners in Israel who would have benefited from the exchange – seems to have influenced the attempts underway at the UN Security Council for a truce, despite the White House announcing in the evening that the The United States is working “actively” on the resolution presented by the United Arab Emirates which provides for “extensive humanitarian pauses” in exchange for the release of the hostages. “At the moment – an official Israeli source certified in a briefing with the foreign press – we have no negotiations” in progress. The only card on the table, he added, «is the fact that there is some progress in having met representatives of Qatar twice already last week, making it clear to everyone that it is time to define a new structure for the release of hostages ».
The UN Council met behind closed doors on Gaza
A closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council took place this afternoon at the UN Security Council to try to reach an agreement on the resolution to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The New York Times reports it. The measure continues to be vetoed by the United States and it is unlikely that the vote already postponed on Tuesday and Wednesday will take place in the next few hours.
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