– Blinken says ‘no’ to Israeli offensive on Rafah
The American Secretary of State also demanded that Hamas “now” accept the proposed truce in the Gaza Strip.
Published today at 6:25 a.m.
Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv.
AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges Hamas to accept the new truce proposal in the Gaza Strip “now” while reaffirming Washington’s opposition to a major Israeli offensive on the town of Rafah.
Antony Blinken, who carried out his seventh mission in the Middle East in Israel since the start of the war on October 7, said on Wednesday he was determined to reach an agreement “now” on a truce associated with the release of the hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
“There is a very good proposal on the table at the moment. Hamas must say yes,” said Antony Blinken. “If Hamas truly claims to care about the Palestinians and wants to see their suffering immediately alleviated, it should accept the deal,” he added.
At this point you will find additional external content. If you accept that cookies are placed by external providers and that personal data is thus transmitted to them, you must allow all cookies and display external content directly.
Allow cookiesMore informations
The mediating countries – Qatar, the United States and Egypt – are awaiting Hamas’ response to a latest proposal providing for a 40-day truce as well as the exchange of hostages for Palestinians held by Israel. Hamas will respond “in a very short time,” One of its political leaders, Souheil al-Hindi, assured AFP on Wednesday, while stressing that the movement still demanded a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israel. from the Gaza Strip. Hamas is open “to all initiatives to end the war (…) but subject to very clear conditions which cannot be waived,” he said.
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told AFP that the movement’s position on the truce proposal was for the moment “negative” but that discussions were still underway. “The situation is sensitive,” added Zaher Jabareen, a member of the Hamas negotiating team, suggesting that a final decision had not been made.
At the end of November, a one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis and dual nationals exchanged for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel. But since then, attempts at mediation have been in vain. Hamas demands a “permanent” ceasefire, which Israel refuses, saying it is determined to continue the offensive until “total victory” over the Islamist movement, which it considers a terrorist organization in the same way. as the United States and the European Union.
One and a half million Palestinians in Rafah
To obtain this “victory”, Israel considers it necessary to carry out a ground operation in Rafah, the last major bastion according to it of Hamas, where a million and a half Palestinians are crowded on the southern edge of the Palestinian territory.
“We cannot and will not support a major military operation in Rafah without an effective plan to ensure civilians are not harmed. And no, we have not seen such a plan (from the Israelis, editor’s note),” Antony Blinken declared on Wednesday, saying he had suggested to Israel “better solutions” than a “major military operation” on Rafah, to “confront” Hamas.
Overnight, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, emphasizing “the need for any potential military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Israeli civilians there and maintain a flow of humanitarian aid,” according to the Pentagon.
These negotiations take place while the police are deployed on several American campuses, scenes of student mobilization in support of the population of Gaza. For its part, Colombia announced the severance of its relations with Israel due to the conduct of the war.
Still 129 hostages held in Gaza
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip in southern Israel carried out an attack which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official data. Israelis. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas and launched an offensive in the besieged territory, which has so far left 34,568 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Health Ministry. The war has caused immense destruction in the small territory, where there is now more debris and rubble to clear than in Ukraine, a UN demining operations official said Wednesday in Geneva.
And that’s without taking into account the fears of widespread famine, with international aid, strictly controlled by Israel, arriving in dribs and drabs mainly from Egypt via the Rafah crossing point.
However, Antony Blinken welcomed progress in the delivery of aid on Wednesday but called on Israel to do more, after a visit to Kerem Shalom, one of the two crossing points from Israel. “Progress is real, but given the immense needs in Gaza, it must be accelerated,” he said.
A floating port facing Gaza
Israel also opened, for the first time since the start of the war, the Erez crossing, providing access to the north of the Gaza Strip. According to the army, 30 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies entered the territory via Erez from Jordan on Wednesday.
The United States is also building a floating port facing the coast of Gaza, which will soon be used to unload aid cargoes arriving by boat from Cyprus and whose work is more than half completed, according to the Pentagon.
In a workshop in Rafah, mechanic Youssef Harazi hopes for an end to the strikes and the fighting: “The war has deeply marked us. We find no physical or mental respite…our minds are tired to the point where we even struggle to empathize with our children in the midst of this war.”
AFP
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
0 comments
