In Qatar Israeli After two days of talks with negotiators America Presented by Gaza Hamas has rejected ‘new terms’ in the ceasefire plan, while the next round of talks will now take place next week in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
According to the French news agency AFP, US President Joe Biden said after increasing international pressure for a cease-fire in Gaza that ‘we are closer than ever.’
The US State Department says US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken will visit Israel later this week to make progress on the new proposal.
The foreign minister will urge all parties in the region to refrain from escalating tensions or taking any other action that would undermine the ability to finalize the agreement, the statement said.
Since the July 31 killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Iran, Washington, along with its European allies, has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The killing was blamed on Israel, prompting threats of retaliation and fears of a major war in the Middle East.
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Egyptian, Qatari and US negotiators are trying to finalize the details of the framework, which was initially outlined by Joe Biden in May and which he said was proposed by Israel.
But months of negotiations have so far failed to finalize the details of a ceasefire and prisoner release agreement.
Mediators said the two-day talks in Doha were “serious and constructive”.
In a joint statement, they said the US had put forward a “conciliation proposal” to try to secure an agreement early in a new round of talks in Cairo next week.
Hamas immediately announced its opposition to the ‘new terms’ from Israel in the latest plan.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, citing US President Biden’s framework, urged mediators to put ‘pressure’ on Hamas to ‘accept the May 27 principles’.
However, Jordan has blamed Netanyahu for obstructing the deal, and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has urged “pressure from everyone who wants to see it through.”
‘exception’
Sources familiar with the matter told AFP that conditions Hamas objected to included the presence of Israeli troops on Gaza’s border with Egypt and the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons in exchange for Israeli prisoners.
Diplomatic pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire has increased in recent weeks.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his French counterpart Stéphane Segerne held talks in Israel on Friday to push for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has told his counterparts that he expects foreign support to ‘attack’ Iran if Iran attacks Israel to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh.
A senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity that Iran would face “catastrophic” consequences if it attacked Israel.
Smoke rises from a building after an Israeli bombardment in central Gaza on July 20, 2024 (AFP)
The deadly attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank was condemned at the international level and calls were made to impose sanctions, including by government ministers, on the increase in settler violence against Palestinians, especially since the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
The Israeli army says dozens of Israeli civilians, some wearing masks, entered the village of Jit, west of Nablus, and set fire to vehicles and buildings in the area, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, and killed a Palestinian man. He was shot and killed.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Foreign Ministry has described the attack as ‘organized state terrorism’.
The EU’s top diplomat, Joseph Borrell, has said he will propose sanctions against the Israeli government.
Borrell posted on X: ‘Day in and day out, Israeli settlers fuel violence in the occupied West Bank with almost total impunity. The Israeli government must immediately stop these unacceptable actions.’
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Beizal Smutrich, who supports West Bank settlements, joined other Israeli leaders on Thursday in condemning the attack by “criminals”.
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2024-08-17 13:01:47