Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that a date had been set for an offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, despite opposition from Washington, at a time when Hamas and Israel are trying to separate themselves. agree on a truce.
Six months after the start of the war, the Palestinian Islamist movement is examining a three-stage proposal submitted by the mediating countries, the first of which provides for a six-week ceasefire, said a source within Hamas.
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French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian Head of State Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II called Monday evening for an “immediate” and “permanent” ceasefire, for the release of “all hostages” in Gaza and warned Israel against the “dangerous consequences” of an offensive in Rafah.
An offensive on Rafah would have “a harmful effect”
“The war in Gaza and the catastrophic human suffering it causes must end immediately,” they wrote in a joint article published in four French newspapers (The world), American (Washington Post), Jordan (Al-Raï) and Egyptian (Al-Ahram).
The Israeli Prime Minister announced that a date had been set for an offensive on Rafah, one of the last bastions according to him of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “It will be done, there is a date,” he declared in a video message, six months after the start of the war, without giving the date.
Almost immediately after this announcement, the United States reaffirmed its opposition to this operation in this Egyptian border town where nearly a million and a half Palestinians are crowded together, in very precarious conditions.
“We have made it clear to Israel that we believe that a massive military invasion of Rafah would have an extremely harmful effect on these civilians and would ultimately harm Israel’s security,” he told reporters. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“Indescribable” situation in Khan Younes
Several Israeli officials reaffirmed this assault plan after Sunday’s announcement of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Khan Younes, a town in the south of the territory, the epicenter of fighting between the army and Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007. .
On Sunday then Monday, thousands of Palestinians who had fled returned to Khan Younes, AFP noted. “We were hoping to find the house or what was left of it,” said Safa Qandil, a 46-year-old woman. Nothing remains of the house. Safa also lost her son and daughter-in-law, who was pregnant. “It’s (…) indescribable,” she confides.
Salim Sharab, a 37-year-old man also looking for his house, said he was “shocked” by the spectacle. “Nothing is like what we knew anymore,” he said.
“Right moment”
In addition to a six-week ceasefire, the truce proposal that Hamas is studying also provides, initially, for the release of 42 Israeli hostages in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, entry 400 to 500 trucks of food aid per day and the return home of residents of the northern Gaza Strip displaced by the war, according to the source within Hamas.
This proposal is the result of a new round of negotiations in Cairo between Hamas and Israel through Egypt, the United States and Qatar.
Earlier in the day, Israeli and Hamas officials dampened hopes of an upcoming truce, with both sides accusing each other of a standoff.
“Hamas is blocking the negotiations,” said Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for his part, judged “the opportune moment” to conclude a truce.
322 humanitarian aid trucks
According to a Hamas official contacted by AFP on Monday, “we cannot speak of concrete progress so far” and the differences mainly concern the return of displaced people to Gaza City, demanded by the Islamist movement considered as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
Questioned by the BBC, the spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs Majed al-Ansari said he was more “optimistic” than a few days ago, adding however that the negotiations are far from being at their last “ straight line”.
At the end of November, a seven-day truce allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages (and 25 others outside the agreement), in exchange for that of 240 Palestinian prisoners.
On Monday, Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman announced that “322 trucks” had entered Gaza in the past 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the war.
Faced with the situation in Gaza, Nicaragua took legal action against Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, denouncing its military support for Israel.
Germany will respond in court on Tuesday but has already described Nicaragua’s presentation as “grossly biased”.