According to a Hamas official, the proposal for a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip was rejected by the Islamic movement. “We have already expressed our position on the idea of a temporary truce in the war, which will only serve to resume aggression afterwards. Hamas supports a permanent, not temporary, end to the war,” said Taher al-Nounou, a senior official in the Palestinian Islamist movement.
On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi presented a proposal for a two-day truce in the Gaza Strip to free four hostages held in the Palestinian territory. He presented this initiative as a first step towards a “complete ceasefire”. This proposal came as new negotiations around a ceasefire in Gaza were taking place at the same time in Qatar between Israelis, Americans and Qataris.
The mediating countries (Egypt, United States, Qatar) are preparing to propose a truce “of less than a month” in Gaza, providing for an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and an increase in humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than a year of war and threatened with famine according to the UN.
Taher al-Nounou clarified that if the mediators invite Hamas to discuss new proposals, “Hamas will respond to this invitation.” But he recalled the conditions set by the movement before accepting any agreement: a ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, the return to their homes of people displaced by the conflict, the entry of enough humanitarian aid and a serious exchange agreement on Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A few days before the presidential election in the United States on November 5, White House officials Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk are expected in Israel to discuss “ways to end the conflict in Gaza,” according to the department. of state.
Yesterday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the US envoy had suggested to him that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was still possible before the US presidential election scheduled for November 5. .
In the meantime, Israeli strikes continue their actions. In the morning, the Israeli army called for the evacuation of several areas of southern Lebanon including a Palestinian refugee camp in Rashidieh.
