Hamas evaluates response to ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is preparing its response to a proposal for a 40-day truce in the Gaza Strip conditioned on the release of Israeli hostages. The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who is scheduled to travel this Tuesday (30/4) to Israel, after a stopover in Jordan, said on Monday that he expected a favorable response from the Islamist group to what he called “extraordinarily generous proposal from Israel”.

UK Foreign Minister David Cameron explained that the proposal envisages “a 40-day ceasefire and the release of thousands of Palestinian detainees” in exchange for the release of hostages kidnapped on October 7, in the unprecedented attack. of Hamas that provoked the war.

After a meeting on Monday in Cairo with representatives from Egypt and Qatar, countries mediating in the conflict alongside the United States, a Hamas delegation returned to Doha to examine the new truce offer, a source from the movement told AFP. The response will come “as quickly as possible”, added the source from the group, considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Hamas’ conditions

Since the start of the war, fighting has stopped for just a week, during a truce at the end of November. The truce allowed the release of 80 Israeli or dual citizenship hostages, as well as more than 20 foreigners, in an exchange for 240 Palestinians who were being held in Israeli penitentiaries.

Israeli authorities estimate that 129 people remain in captivity in Gaza, of which 34 have been killed. In the unprecedented attack against southern Israel, Hamas militiamen kidnapped more than 200 people and killed 1,170, most of them civilians, according to a report based on official Israeli data.

In retaliation, Israel began an offensive against the territory to annihilate Hamas, which left 34,535 dead, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health, governed since 2007 by the Islamist movement.

Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire, before any agreement on the release of the hostages, which Israel has always rejected. The Islamist movement’s demands include Israel’s “withdrawal” from the territory, the return of displaced people and a clear timetable for the start reconstruction, one of the group’s negotiators, Zaher Jabareen, told reporters on Monday.

Operation against Rafah

The American Secretary of State reiterated Washington’s opposition to Israeli plans to launch an offensive against Rafah, a city on the southern tip of Gaza where 1.5 million people are crowded, most of them displaced by the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted, however, that the Army will begin a ground offensive in Rafah, “with or without” a truce agreement.

“The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all objectives is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions with or without a (truce) agreement, to achieve total victory,” Netanyahu told representatives of families of the hostages, according to a statement released by his office.

The country’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz hinted at the weekend that the offensive against Rafah would be “suspended” if a truce was signed. The Israeli Army bombed Rafah, Khan Yunis, also in the south, and Gaza City, in the north, this Tuesday, according to AFP correspondents.

In Gaza City, Civil Protection announced that it had recovered six bodies after bombings in the Al Amal neighborhood. According to the territory’s Ministry of Health, at least 47 people died in the last 24 hours in the territory.

Blinken, who is on his seventh trip to the Middle East since the start of the war, will address in his visit to Jordan the increase in humanitarian aid in the Strip, surrounded by Israel and on the brink of famine.

The United States government is putting pressure on Israel to facilitate the entry of aid, which arrives in small numbers and is insufficient, and has begun construction of a floating dock along the coast of Gaza. In Rafah, displaced families face the sweltering heat without running water and with only light protection under their tents.

“The water we drink is hot,” said Ranin Auni al Ariane, a mother with a baby in her arms. “Children can no longer bear the heat or the bites of flies and mosquitoes.” (AFP)

—

THE TIME reinforces the commitment to quality, professional and Minas Gerais journalism. Our newsroom produces responsible information every day that you can trust.

Follow THE TIME on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram. Help grow our community.