Hamas and two other Palestinian resistance groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said yesterday that a ceasefire agreement was “closer than ever” for the Palestinian strip. Ghaza, scene of more than a year of war with Israel.
“The possibility of reaching an agreement (for a ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners) is closer than ever, if the enemy stops imposing new conditions,” the three groups said in a rare joint statement after meeting in Cairo on Friday evening, reports AFP. They stressed everyone's “commitment to ending the war.”
Indirect negotiations last week in Qatar between Israel and Hamas, with Doha and Egypt as mediators, revived hopes of an agreement on a truce and a release of hostages in Ghaza. A Hamas official told AFP yesterday that discussions had made “significant and important progress” in recent days. “Most of the points concerning the ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners are the subject of an agreement,” he indicated, on condition of anonymity.
“Other points remain to be discussed, but they do not call into question the process. The agreement could be finalized before the end of the year, if (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not impose new conditions,” he added, specifying that a possible agreement would be implemented gradually. . The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday that he was “hopeful” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, without however “risking giving probabilities”. “It has to succeed. People must return home,” he insisted, referring to the hostages still held in Gaza.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts, no truce has been concluded between Israel and Hamas since that of a week at the end of November 2023. Until then, the main sticking point of the negotiations concerned the permanent nature or not of the ceasefire. Benyamin Netanyahu has also stated on several occasions that he is opposed to a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphia Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli army along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Yesterday, three Palestinian civilians were martyred and several others were injured in new Zionist strikes targeting the city of Ghaza, media reported, cited by APS. Occupation planes targeted a group of citizens on Al Bahr Street west of Ghaza city, leaving three martyrs and others injured, reports Wafa news agency. Since October 7, 2023, the Zionist occupying forces continue to invade the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air, killing 45,206 civilians, mainly women and children, and injuring 107,512 others, in a latest balance sheet. Thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue teams cannot reach them. In the West Bank, a Palestinian child was martyred yesterday after the explosion of a mine planted by the Zionist occupation army, in the Rachaida region, east of Bethlehem.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, the Palestinian child, Mohammed Yaser Ali Rachaida, 7 years old, was martyred following the explosion of a mine planted by the Zionist occupation, reports the agency Wafa press. The occupation forces also arrested two children on the same day in the village of Husan west of Bethlehem, according to the same source.
Widespread military campaign
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory has described the Zionist attack on a mosque in the city of Ghaza during dawn prayers as “war crimes” and a “crime against humanity.” , reiterating his call to the international community to “put an end to the ongoing genocide” in Gaza.
In its report on the strikes carried out by the Zionist army on November 16 against the Al Hassan mosque, east of the city of Ghaza, the Observatory concluded that this attack constitutes “a flagrant violation of the principles of international law humanitarian, in particular distinction, proportionality and the obligation to take precautions, fundamental rules that the “Zionist entity” is required to respect at all times and without exception.
As such, he continued, this attack constitutes “a set of full-fledged war crimes committed by the (Zionist) army against civilians protected by international humanitarian law, as well as against a place of worship considered as civil property protected by this same right.
According to this organization, this crime, which directly caused deaths and injuries among civilians, also constitutes “a crime against humanity, because it is part of a widespread and systematic military campaign carried out (by Zionist entity) against the civilian population of Gaza for over a year.
In addition, this massacre can be “qualified as an act of genocide, as part of the campaign led (by the Zionist entity) since October 7, 2023 to destroy the Palestinian population of Ghaza,” she added.
Therefore, the NGO reiterates its call to the international community to “fulfill its international legal obligations by striving to bring an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza by all means available.” The Observatory recalls, in this respect, that the prevention and repression of this crime are international legal obligations incumbent on all States without exception.
Mansour calls for implementation of UN resolutions
Palestine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, has stressed the need for countries around the world to commit to implementing UN resolutions to end the Zionist occupation and adopt. In an interview given to the program “With the Editor-in-Chief” of Palestinian television and reported yesterday by the Wafa news agency, Mr. Mansour declared that what the Zionist occupation “is proposing in the corridors of “The UN is opposed to most countries in the world, because the Zionist leaders have their hands stained with blood,” noting that the Security Council adopted Resolution 2735, which provides for an immediate and complete ceasefire, but that the occupant did not respect it. He also explained that the world is overwhelmingly in solidarity with the Palestinian cause and people, and that the Zionist entity is hated and rejected for its unacceptable crimes and for its lack of response to the call of the world which refuses to violate international laws and standards. Furthermore, Mansour stressed the importance for the United Nations to put the occupation government on the list of shame, stressing that this achievement requires considerable effort, especially in the context of attempts by some to push for it. 'Cancel. He indicated that the issue of violence committed against Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails is a recurring problem, highlighting the work and contact with the Prisoners' Affairs Commission to organize international events in favor of their just cause.
Action Aid International: Residents survive with difficulty
The NGO Action Aid International said residents in the Gaza Strip are now struggling to survive due to a severe shortage of food items, including bread. In a statement published yesterday and relayed by the Wafa news agency, the NGO indicated that “many families in the Palestinian enclave have so far relied on community restaurants as their only hope of getting a meal a day, n “are now no longer able to find something to eat after the closure of these restaurants, precisely due to a lack of food products, including flour.” According to the organization, there are only four bakeries run by the World Food Program (WFP) in Gaza that are still open, and demand is so high that people are forced to queue at 3 a.m. outside the bakeries and flour trucks to try to get their ration. Action Aid International highlighted that hunger and malnutrition in northern Gaza were increasing rapidly and that the famine threshold had already been exceeded, but that very little aid was reaching the region. Before concluding: “With the continued use of hunger as a weapon of war by the Zionist entity in Gaza, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to obtain enough food to survive,” said Reham Jafari, responsible for communications and advocacy for the foundation. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in northern Gaza, the price of a 25 kg bag of flour reaches around 1,000 shekels in Deir Al Balah.