Find here our update on yesterday’s situation.
After seven months of devastating war, hopes for a truce continue to be fueled with the arrival of a Hamas delegation in Egypt for negotiations on Saturday May 4. On the ground, deadly Israeli strikes were carried out across Palestinian territory, particularly on Rafah, according to hospital sources and witnesses. This overpopulated southern city still remains threatened by a ground operation, despite international warnings.
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In the last twenty-four hours, at least thirty-two deaths have been recorded, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, administered by Hamas. Since the start of the war, 34,654 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the ministry reports 77,908 injured.
A Hamas delegation in Egypt, no Israeli representative yet
The delegation of the Islamist movement, led by Khalil Al-Hayya, number two in the political branch of Hamas in Gaza, arrived in Egypt for a first round of negotiations with “the presence of delegations from Qatar, Egypt and the United States”the mediating countries, according to an official of the Palestinian movement.
The truce offer on the table includes a forty-day pause in the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages kidnapped during the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack in southern Gaza. Israel, which started the war.
“Significant progress has been made in the negotiations” between Hamas and Israel, reported the Egyptian media, close to intelligence, Al-Qahera News, which cites a “high-ranking Source”. The Egyptian mediators are “reached a consensus formula on most points of disagreement”, added the same Source. There was no “no development” Saturday, however, a Hamas official said later in the evening.
Israel will send a delegation to Cairo only in the event of“positive progress” on the ” frame “ of a possible exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a senior Israeli official said on Saturday. “To put it simply, what is being discussed is common ground on the framework of a possible hostage exchange agreement” detained in Gaza against Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but “we must expect long and difficult negotiations before a real agreement”he explained.
“Reports that Israel has agreed to end the war as part of a prisoner exchange deal or that Israel will allow mediation to ensure the war ends are inaccurate”an Israeli official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Jerusalem in the evening.
Discussions are due to resume on Sunday in Cairo on the means to reach a truce in the war in Gaza, against a backdrop of reciprocal accusations from the belligerents of hindering any agreement.
Bombings and intense fighting in Gaza City
An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported bombings and intense fighting in Gaza City (north) on Saturday. Three dead and three injured were pulled from the rubble of a bombed house in a northern neighborhood, according to Gaza civil defense.
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Israeli strikes also took place in the center of the Gaza Strip and in Rafah, where the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar hospital said it received a body and several wounded after a bombing on a house. According to the Israeli army, planes struck “terrorist targets” in the Khan Younes sector (South) after a device launched towards a kibbutz in southern Israel fell near the ” security fence “.
Democratic lawmakers urge Joe Biden to consider cutting off arms sales to Israel
Nearly 90 U.S. Democratic lawmakers urged President Joe Biden on Friday to consider cutting off arms sales to Israel if the Israeli government does not change its course in its war against Hamas.
Elected officials share their “grave concerns about the conduct of the war in Gaza by the Israeli government with regard to the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid”, in a letter signed by 88 members of Congress delivered to the White House. Israel’s restrictions on aid delivery “contribute to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”says the letter.
The text specifies, however, that Israeli anti-missile defense systems, such as Iron Dome, must be excluded from this possible suspension of American aid. “We continue to strongly support providing life-saving defensive funding to Israel”warn the signatories.
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