Israel announced Thursday that it was sending a delegation to Qatar to negotiate an agreement on Gaza involving the release of hostages. Hamas says it is open to talks on a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory devastated by more than a year of war.
The last indirect negotiations under the aegis of mediators – Qatar, Egypt, United States – with a view to a ceasefire in Gaza, associated with a release of hostages, took place in August and were concluded by failure, like many previous attempts.
These announcements come after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinouar, killed by Israel on October 16 in southern Gaza, and at a time when Israel is under pressure to end its war against Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon, two movements supported by Iran, its sworn enemy.
The Israeli army continues its offensive in the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip, especially in the north where at least 770 Palestinians have been killed in 19 days according to Civil Defense. In Lebanon, new deadly Israeli strikes targeted several regions of the country, including Hezbollah strongholds.
The war in Gaza was triggered by an attack of unprecedented scale and violence carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamas “showed itself ready for a cessation of hostilities” but demanded from Israel a “commitment to a ceasefire”, a “withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and a “serious agreement for an exchange” Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7 and held in Gaza against Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, said a leader of the movement.
These conditions, presented during previous indirect negotiations, had been rejected by Israel.
After discussions in Cairo between Egyptian officials and a Hamas delegation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send his head of foreign intelligence, Mossad, David Barnea, to Qatar, according to his office.
Mr. Barnea is due to meet CIA chief Bill Burns and the Qatari Prime Minister on Sunday to discuss “different options for resuming negotiations on the release of the hostages”, according to the same source.
The number one Mossad has already met with senior Egyptian officials as part of efforts for a “return to negotiations and for a cease-fire”, reported the Al Qahera News channel, close to Egyptian intelligence.
In Doha, where the Hamas political office is located, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted Thursday on the need to end the war in Gaza.
After concluding his tour of the Middle East, he is due to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London on Friday to discuss the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Across Gaza”
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity.
Of the 251 people then kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, and launched an offensive that killed at least 42,847 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Health Ministry data. of the Hamas government, deemed reliable by the UN.
The war has caused the displacement of almost all of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the territory threatened with famine according to the UN.
At the Brics summit in Russia, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of wanting to “empty the territory (of Gaza) of its population, particularly now in the north”, where according to Israel Hamas is regrouping its forces.
In central Gaza, at least 17 people were killed Thursday in an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people in Nusseirat, according to Civil Defense.
Twelve dead in Lebanon
In Lebanon, where the Israeli army has been bombing Hezbollah strongholds for a month, strikes again hit the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday evening after a call from the Israeli army to evacuate four areas.
The Health Ministry reported that 12 people including three children were killed in Israeli strikes on the east of the country. In the South, the regions of Tire and Bint Jbeil were particularly targeted, according to official media.
Fighting also pitted Hezbollah against Israeli soldiers in border villages in the south, according to the Lebanese Shiite movement which claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on northern Israel.
The Israeli army reported the death of five soldiers in southern Lebanon, bringing to 27 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of its ground offensive on September 30 in this border region of northern Israel.
On Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati affirmed that “the weapons must be solely in the hands of the Lebanese army and the Lebanese state”, while Hezbollah is heavily armed by Iran.
On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front in support of Hamas, firing rockets into northern Israel.
After weakening Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli army moved the heart of its operations to Lebanon with the objective of neutralizing Hezbollah in the border regions of southern Lebanon and allowing the return to northern Israel of 60,000 displaced.
Since the start of a campaign of intense airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds on September 23, at least 1,552 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data. The UN has recorded some 800,000 displaced people.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
