AFP
Hamas says it is studying Gaza truce offer with “positive spirit”
Hamas says it is studying in a “positive spirit” the latest truce offer associated with the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip where nearly seven months of deadly war have caused “unprecedented” destruction according to the UN. the mediating countries (Qatar, Egypt, United States) are awaiting Hamas’ response to this new proposal, medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Friday Israeli strikes in the Rafah sector (south). And Israel announced the death of One of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, Dror Or, a resident of kibbutz Be’eri, two of whose children, also kidnapped on October 7 by Hamas, had been released at the end of November as part of a first truce. One-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages against 240 Palestinians detained by Israel. Since then, numerous attempts at mediation have remained in vain. Hamas is studying in a “positive spirit” the new offer on the table, for a 40-day break in the fighting, its leader, Ismaïl Haniyeh, said in a conversation on Thursday. telephone with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel. During this interview, Mr. Haniyeh “confirmed” that a delegation from the movement would go to Egypt “shortly” to complete recent discussions with a view to a possible agreement which “respond to the demands of our people” and “put an end to the aggression”. The leader of Hamas, whose movement is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, also spoke with the Qatari minister of Foreign Affairs, to whom he repeated his wish to “reach an agreement”. These remarks clash with those the day before of a leader of the movement who evoked a position for the moment “negative” of Hamas regarding these negotiations .Hamas, which took power in 2007 in Gaza, maintains its demands, first of all a permanent ceasefire, which Israel has always refused. – Defend ourselves “alone” – Visiting Israel on Wednesday, American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had called on Hamas to say “yes” to an agreement that he considered “extraordinarily generous” on the part of Israel. He also urged Israel to renounce a ground offensive on the city of Rafah, the last great bastion of the Islamist movement according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where there are a million and a half Palestinians, the majority displaced by the war. “We will do what is necessary to win and defeat our enemy, including in Rafah”, Mr. Netanyahu repeated on Thursday, after having promised to launch a ground offensive there, “with or without an agreement” of truce. Many capitals and humanitarian organizations fear heavy civilian losses, in the absence of “a plan considered credible to protect the population.”If we have to defend ourselves alone, we will defend ourselves alone”, he said as mobilization increases in certain countries against Israel for the conduct of its war in Gaza .In addition to demonstrations on the campuses of major universities in the United States, Canada, or even in France at Sciences Po, Colombia announced on Wednesday that it was severing its diplomatic ties with Israel, and Turkey suspended its commercial relations with the same country on Thursday. country. All this while Israeli officials are beginning to fear a possible indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is however opposed by their American ally. According to the American sites Axios and Israeli Walla, American senators held a meeting virtual Wednesday with Hague court officials to express concern about possible arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza. On October 7, an attack by Hamas commandos infiltrating from Gaza in the south of Israel has caused the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. More than 250 people were kidnapped that day and 129 remain captive in Gaza, including 35. dead, including Dror Or, according to Israeli officials. In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Palestinian territory which left 34,596 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. – 30 to 40 billion -In In addition to this human toll, reconstruction should cost between 30 and 40 billion dollars (between 28 and 37 billion euros), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated on Thursday.”The scale of the destruction “is enormous and unprecedented (…) It is a mission that the international community has not faced since the Second World War,” declared the director of the regional office for the Arab States of the UNDP, Abdallah al- Dardari.In terms of international aid, strictly controlled by Israel, it continues to arrive in trickles, mainly from Egypt, via Rafah, in the territory of 2.4 million inhabitants threatened with famine. The American NGO World Central Kitchen, which suspended its activities in the Gaza Strip after the death of seven humanitarian workers during an Israeli airstrike in early April, resumed its activities this week. closing the kitchen, we realized that many mouths remained hungry,” Zakria Yahya Abukuwaik, manager of a kitchen supported by this NGO in Rafah where the population fears an operation these days, told AFP on Thursday. Israeli soldiers on the ground in the absence of a truce agreement.bur-gl/jnd
