American Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas on Wednesday, May 1, to accept the truce proposal in the Gaza Strip currently under discussion. “If he doesn’t do it, I think it will be further proof that he doesn’t have the slightest consideration” for the Palestinians, he said, on the sidelines of a visit to Israel. He urged the Israeli government to abandon an offensive in Rafah, judging that there is “better solutions” to fight against Hamas, without “major military operation”. Follow our live stream.
Hamas promises “a clear response very soon.” This is what Souheil al-Hindi, member of the political bureau of the Islamist movement, assures, but without “provide specific time or day”. “Hamas is open to all initiatives to end the war (…) but subject to very clear conditions which cannot be renounced”in the first place “the cessation of hostilities and the total withdrawal of the occupier from the Gaza Strip”he added.
There is more debris to clear in Gaza than in Ukraine, according to the UN. Relentlessly shelled by the Israeli army for six months, the Palestinian enclave continues to be destroyed. “To put that in perspective, the front in Ukraine is 600 miles long [un peu moins de 1 000 km] and Gaza is 25 miles long [soit 40 km]“explained the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) during a press briefing in Geneva.
A land operation in Rafah would be “an unspeakable tragedy”, fears the UN. The Israeli Prime Minister continues to reiterate his intention to enter Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. “For the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled to the far south of Gaza to escape disease, famine, mass graves and direct combat, a ground invasion would bring even more trauma and death.”said the head of UN humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, on Tuesday.
