Egypt obtains the Israeli promise to postpone the attack on Rafah to buy time for the Islamic movement to respond to the truce proposal. Meanwhile, Israeli military forces launched new airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at US and European universities do not decrease.
Paola Simonetti – Vatican News
Hamas will have one week to implement the truce agreement. Afterwards, the ground attack on Rafah will begin. Israel establishes its rules, through Egyptian mediation, but against the United States, according to which the pre-announced military operation would cause unacceptable damage to the population. Hamas, which accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of multiplying statements to the media to sabotage efforts to obtain a truce, announced that it will be present in the coming hours, with a positive spirit, at the negotiating table in Cairo. However, specifying that he will not respond to the latest proposal for a hostage agreement in exchange for a truce with Israel, but that he will reiterate his demand for an end to the war. Meanwhile, Israel is not giving up its military control over Gaza: overnight, there were several bombings in the Strip. The front with Lebanon also remains incandescent: a new Israeli military attack was launched in the south of the country against the bases of the Shiite organization Hezbollah. The operation resulted in several civilian deaths.
The mobilization of universities around the world
The conflict in the Middle East continues to inflame American and European universities, where students are demonstrating in favor of Palestine: Columbia University is rethinking its graduation ceremonies for security reasons, while at Princeton some students are on hunger strike . In the meantime, the New York University camp was released at the request of the university itself. In Paris, police intervened in Sciences Po to evacuate a few dozen pro-Palestinian youth.
Qatar’s position on Hamas
Qatar, one of the mediators in the Gaza truce negotiations, would be willing to accept the US request for the expulsion of the Hamas leadership from Doha. According to the Washinton Post, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month delivered a request to “expel” the Islamist group’s leaders from the country if they continued to reject the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. According to the American newspaper, Qatar had been waiting for months for the US request.
