2024-03-07 17:56:00
Hopes fade for Gaza ceasefire ahead of Ramadan
A ceasefire deal in Gaza that would allow the release of Israeli hostages and the first break in fighting in more than three months is unlikely to be reached before the start of Ramadan that the Biden administration was aiming for, according to sources familiar. with the negotiations.
Negotiators had hoped to have a draft agreement this week after days of meetings in Cairo, “but it won’t happen,” said a diplomat familiar with the discussions who described the final days of talks as “very hectic.”
Two U.S. officials agreed that prospects are not promising for Israel and Hamas to agree to a temporary truce at the start of the Muslim holy month early next week.
“Hope is fading,” said one US official.
Failure to reach a deal in the coming days would come after weeks of President Joe Biden and administration officials saying a deal needs to be reached before Ramadan to avoid an escalation of the five-month war. He warned Tuesday that without a ceasefire by then the region could become “very, very dangerous.”
Israel has also warned that if Israeli hostages held in Gaza are not home before Ramadan, it will launch a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza, where around 1.5 million Palestinians are trying to seek safety from the fighting. .
Representatives from Hamas, Egypt, Qatar and the United States had met this week in the Egyptian capital for further talks, while Israel refused to send a delegation because Hamas has not yet provided a list of live and dead hostages, a recent demand. From Israel. .
The Biden administration insists that Israel has already agreed to the general terms of a six-week pause while Hamas holds out.
A Hamas delegation left Cairo this Thursday after days of talks without evident progress in negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages. Egyptian state media Al Qahera, citing a high-level source, said the delegation left to consult on the proposals and that negotiations will resume next week.
“It’s in the hands of Hamas right now,” Biden told reporters Tuesday as he boarded Air Force One. He had raised hopes last week by saying a ceasefire could be established last Monday, a prediction he later admitted It was unlikely.
Last week’s deadly incident in which 100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City when an aid convoy was harassed and Israeli forces opened fire “brought us back 10 steps,” the diplomat said. Hamas then presented mediators with a response to a negotiated framework that “no one is happy with.”
A deal, if successful, is expected to include several phases. In the first stage, when fighting stops for at least six weeks, about 40 Israeli hostages, elderly, female, sick and wounded, are expected to be freed. In parallel, Israel would also release Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisoners, a number that could run into the hundreds.
Hamas had backed away from some of its strictest demands, sources told CNN, but after last week’s “Flour Massacre,” as it became known, the group pushed for more guarantees. That is, in the first phase the Israeli army would withdraw from the cities of Gaza and in a second phase it would completely withdraw from the enclave, according to the diplomat, who said that the IDF refuses to accept these points.
Palestinians in northern Gaza not only need to be able to return to what remains of their homes, Hamas has argued in the talks, but they must do so without passing through IDF checkpoints. Hamas demands, the diplomat said, that specific machinery be provided to move the rubble, as well as field hospitals and clinics.
Hamas “will continue negotiations,” the group said in a statement Wednesday, arguing that it has “shown flexibility” but Israel continues to “evade the obligations of the agreement” under discussion.
“We have affirmed our conditions for a ceasefire: complete withdrawal [de las FDI] of the sector, the return of displaced people to the areas they abandoned, especially in the north, and the provision of sufficient aid, relief and reconstruction,” Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said at a news conference in Beirut on Tuesday.
Ramadan, a month of fasting and piety for Muslims, is a “period when you are calm and can do essential humanitarian work,” a senior administration official told reporters at a briefing over the weekend.
According to the United Nations, around a quarter of Gaza’s population is on the brink of famine. The Biden administration has stepped up its criticism of Israel’s refusal to open more border crossings to allow aid into Gaza, particularly to address needs in the north.
“There are no excuses,” Biden posted on X.
Even without a ceasefire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, there is an urgent need to “dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance you are receiving.”
1709837158
#news #hostage #release