Biden says Hamas remains ‘main obstacle’ to truce

The Israeli army carried out new deadly bombings on the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday and engaged in battles with Hamas in Rafah, with US President Joe Biden accusing the Palestinian Islamist movement of being the “main obstacle” to a ceasefire agreement. fire.

The war, which has entered its 9th month, knows no respite. And Israel’s northern front with Lebanon saw a new outbreak of violence, with the Israeli army threatening to respond “with force” to attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah which fired dozens of projectiles against Israeli military targets.

A truce plan in Gaza announced on May 31 by Joe Biden, Israel’s main ally, has still not been implemented, with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas sticking to their intangible positions.

“What have we gained from this war?”

“What have we gained from this war other than killings, destruction, extermination and famine?” exclaims Oum Chadi, a 50-year-old Palestinian, urging Hamas to “end the war immediately, without seeking to control and rule Gaza.”

While hopes for a ceasefire have been regularly dashed, Gaza residents like Oum Chadi criticize Hamas and call for a truce at a time when the devastated Palestinian territory is in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis. with a threat of famine.

In Jerusalem, students brandishing photos of Israelis kidnapped during Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel and held in Gaza, also called on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to stop the war and return the hostages to home during a demonstration in front of Parliament.

Artillery fire

But Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his determination to continue the war until the defeat of Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007 and considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

On Thursday, heavy artillery fire and airstrikes targeted several areas, notably Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to AFP correspondents on site.

Hamas’ military wing said it was engaged in street fighting in western Rafah where witnesses reported fire from Apache helicopters. Others described “a very violent night” in the city. The army reported “targeted operations” in Rafah, where its soldiers “eliminated several terrorists in close combat”.

37,232 dead in Gaza

Israel had presented its ground offensive launched on May 7 in Rafah as essential to eliminate Hamas, but fighting has resumed in recent weeks in several other regions of Gaza, notably in the center where three bodies were found in a bombed house according to the Civil defense.

The war was sparked on October 7 by the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official Israeli data. Of 251 people kidnapped, 116 are still held hostage in Gaza, of whom 41 are dead, according to the army.

In response, the Israeli army launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza which left 37,232 dead, including 30 in the last 24 hours, the majority civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Gaza government led by the Hamas.

After more than eight months of war, the United States is striving to obtain an agreement based on the plan announced by Joe Biden which provides, in a first phase, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by a withdrawal Israeli government of densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages held in Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Biden accuses Hamas

Joe Biden presented this plan as coming from Israel. But Benjamin Netanyahu deemed it incomplete by reaffirming his government’s determination to destroy Hamas and free all the hostages.

For its part, Hamas sent the mediating countries an initial response which was not disclosed. According to a source close to the discussions, it contains “amendments” to the plan, including “a timetable for a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.” Demands that Israel has always rejected.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Wednesday in Doha, the last stop of yet another tour of the Middle East since October 7, that “certain changes” demanded by Hamas were “feasible, others not”.

On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, Joe Biden accused Hamas of blocking any truce agreement. “I submitted a proposal approved by the Security Council, by the G7, by the Israelis, and the main obstacle at this stage is Hamas which refuses to sign, even though they proposed something similar,” he said. -he said.

G7 leaders earlier called on Hamas to “give the necessary agreement” for the implementation of this proposal.

On Israel’s northern front, cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and the Israeli army have increased. On Thursday, Hezbollah launched attacks “with rockets and drones” against several military positions in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan. Two Israeli soldiers were injured by a projectile that fell in Manara near the Lebanese border, according to the army. The Lebanese movement has intensified its attacks since the death of one of its commanders killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

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AFP

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