2024-05-06 23:48:45
- Author, Writing
- role, BBC News World
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3 hours
Hamas announced this Monday that it accepts a ceasefire proposal in Gaza made by Egypt and Qatar, raising hopes that there will be a break in the conflict.
The statement from the Islamic group came after Israel ordered the evacuation of around 100,000 Palestinians in the city of Rafah, in the southern Strip, in order to carry out military attacks that have been planned for months and are widely opposed. of the international community.
Hamas specified that the head of its political office, Ismail Haniya, communicated its decision to the Prime Minister of Qatar and the Minister of Information of Egypt.
The announcement was greeted with optimism in the Palestinian territories and in some of the international community, although Israel has not yet confirmed whether or not it will accept the proposal and continues its military operations in southern Gaza.
Subtitle, Palestinian groups that were in Rafah left the area after the Israeli evacuation order.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed that a ceasefire offer from Egypt and Qatar “far from the claims” to his government, although he agreed to negotiate and announced that a delegation would be sent to the intervention countries to come.
While it is not known exactly what is included in the proposal, Palestinian sources have leaked some details about its contents.
Phased ceasefire
Subtitle, Rafah has already been the scene of recent attacks.
A senior Palestinian official with access to the text indicated that Hamas accepts it end “hostile activity forever” if the conditions of the break are met.
The phrase suggests that Hamas may be considering the end of its armed struggle, although no further details have been provided, and that this would happen after signing a two-stage ceasefire agreement.
Each phase would last 42 days and the second phase would end with “a long and sustainable period of calm,” as well as a complete end to the blockade of Gaza.
The first step would be the release of Israeli women soldiers held captive in Gaza, who would be exchanged for 50 Palestinian prisoners each, including some serving life sentences.
During this period Israeli troops will remain inside Gaza but, within 11 days of the ceasefire taking effect, Israel would begin dismantling its military installations in the Gaza Strip and withdraw from several key areas.
After 11 days, the Palestinians would be allowed to return to the northern Gaza strip.
Al-Jazeera media reported a third phase of the agreement, in which the reconstruction of Gaza would begin under the supervision of the agencies of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
The Qatari television network cited Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, as the source of this information.
He also specified that the flow of aid, fuel and materials to Gazay would resume in the first phase, and in the second phase, according to the text of the proposal, there would be a complete and permanent stop to military activity in Gaza.
Protests in Tel Aviv
Subtitle, Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked a road to demand their government accept the peace deal.
Hamas’s approval of the cease-fire proposal not only raised hopes for peace in the Palestinian territories, but also among some of the Israeli population, especially the relatives of the hostages held by Hamas.
Groups of people demonstrated on Monday in Tel Aviv that they demand that the Netanyahu government accept the proposal made by Egypt and Qatar and that this would facilitate the return of the abducted people as a result.
On October 7 of last year, Hamas militants carried out a massive military invasion of Israeli territory, where they killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 253, who they took to Gaza as hostages.
Some of them were released and 128 are still in Gazaaccording to Israeli data, although it is believed that at least 34 may be dead.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has launched a large-scale military offensive on the Gaza Strip over the past seven months, which It has killed more than 34,000 people.
Despite the announcement of Hamas, this Monday Israel carried out a military offensive in Rafah, a town it considers to be the last base of the Palestinian organization that carried out the October 7 attack.
The Israeli Defense Forces indicated that the operation consists of a series of “targeted attacks” against Hamas in the east of Rafah.
For its part, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad of Palestine – another organization considered by the US and the EU to be terrorists – announced that its military had launched rockets from Gaza towards southern Israel in response to these attacks.
Images showed how the “iron dome”, Israel’s anti-missile system, intercepted projectiles over the sky of the country next Monday.
International rejection of attack in Rafah
A large part of the international community has opposed Israel’s announced military attacks in Rafah, where more than a million displaced from other war-torn areas of Gaza.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said the consequences for these people would be catastrophic.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres expressed concern and asked the Israeli government and the leaders of Hamas to “go the extra mile” to reach an agreement.
For his part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described Israel’s evacuation order in Rafah as “inhumane”.
US President, Joe Biden expressed his concern to Netanyahu this past Monday about the invasion of southern Gaza in a telephone conversation, the White House announced.
Subtitle, Biden asked Netanyahu to express his opposition to attacks in southern Israel.
“We cannot support an operation in Rafah as currently planned,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
The Chancellor of the European Union, Josep Borrell, sharply criticized Israel’s operation, which he described as “unacceptable” and will surely cause “more war and famine”
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, also expressed his “deep concern” about the attack in Rafah because of “the number of civilians taking refuge there and the importance of that crossing for aid.”
Among the countries in the region, Egypt called for “restraint” on Israel at a crucial time when important progress could be made towards peace, while Jordan and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned Israel’s recent attacks on Rafah. .
Tough decisions for Netanyahu after Hamas gives up on expectations
Analysis by Jeremy Bowen, BBC International Editor
The announcement of the ceasefire by Hamas took most analysts by surprise and upset Israel’s expectations of what could happen in the coming weeks.
Israel’s assumption was that Hamas would not accept a ceasefire proposal that the Americans called “extremely generous”. At dawn, Israel warned Palestinians to flee from the eastern side of Rafah because of an imminent military operation.
The Americans oppose any ground operations in Rafah that could endanger civilian lives. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained to his American counterpart that there was no other option, as Hamas had rejected all proposals for a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar continued to push for a ceasefire. William Burns, the head of the CIA, spent much of the day in meetings with the prime minister of Qatar in Doha, the capital that also serves as the base of Hamas’s political leadership.
In the evening, when Hamas announced that it would accept a ceasefire, Palestinian sources indicated that the organization may be ready for a long-term ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first public response was to say that Hamas’s acceptance of the proposal was “far from meeting Israel’s demands”. However, he has sent a delegation to discuss it.
Subtitle, Netanyahu is at a crossroads after the Hamas announcement.
The prime minister is in a complicated political position. His coalition government relies on the support of Jewish ultranationalists, who have demanded the complete occupation of Rafah and threatened to overthrow the executive if that does not happen. A ceasefire would mean canceling the attack in Rafah.
At the same time, relatives of the hostages and other Israelis have shown that they block the main roads to demand that Israel accept the agreement to bring the hostages back home.
Americans also want to deal. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel despite the high number of Palestinian civilian deaths is costing him political support in an election year.
Hamas put the ball in Netanyahu’s court. And if Biden pushes him to agree to a ceasefire, he will have to choose between the survival of his government and the vital support the US president has given since the October 7 attacks.
A ceasefire would also mean that Israel would not have achieved the “total victory” promised by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The first thing to come is more negotiations and difficult decisions.
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