The US said on Monday that new negotiations on a ceasefire would begin on Thursday, either in Doha or Cairo.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken was scheduled to travel on Tuesday to hold talks with Qatar and Egypt, and Israel has said it will participate in the negotiations.
On the same day, however, Axios reported that the trip has been postponed. The website refers to two unnamed sources, who say that the postponement comes as a result of “uncertainty about the situation”.
Demanding, but not giving up
The US is now asking both Israel and Hamas to come to negotiations this week. Karine Jean Pierre, spokeswoman for the White House, told reporters on board the presidential plane Air Force One. The plane carried President Joe Biden to New Orleans on Tuesday.
– We believe that the delegations should come to the negotiating table. We believe that reaching a ceasefire agreement is the best way to reduce tension, says the spokesperson.
The president himself believes that a ceasefire agreement could make Iran refrain from attacking Israel in response to the deadly attack on a Hamas leader in Tehran.
– That is my expectation, says Biden, according to the AFP news agency.
He admits that the negotiations have become demanding, but that he has not given up.
Hamas repeated the demand
Hamas made it clear on Sunday that there is no need for new talks and new proposals. They demand that the plan that President Biden presented earlier this year, and which they have accepted, be implemented immediately. On Tuesday, they repeated the demand.
– Our statement from the other day was completely clear. What is needed is the implementation of the plan, not more negotiations, says a Hamas official.
Biden’s plan calls for a multi-stage ceasefire ending with the war ending, the release of all the remaining Israeli hostages taken by Hamas last October, and the opening of massive humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Do not accept
While Hamas wants a ceasefire that ends the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war cannot end until Hamas is eliminated.
He has therefore not accepted Biden’s plan as it stands. Several right-wing radical members of the government are completely against a ceasefire and threaten to resign and overthrow the government if the ceasefire is accepted.
The mediators the US, Qatar and Egypt are calling for the new negotiations less than two weeks after Hamas’ main negotiator Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in an assassination which Israel is accused of being behind. Qatar is among those who condemned the assassination.
– How can mediation succeed if one party kills the other party’s negotiators? Serious partners are needed for negotiations, said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it is behind Haniyeh’s murder.
Pressure from Iran
On Tuesday, Iran put pressure on the parties and negotiators when it made clear that only a ceasefire in Gaza could make them refrain from attacking Israel in retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran.
They say an agreement on a cease-fire must come in the negotiations this week in Doha or Cairo if they are to refrain from a direct attack on Israel now. This is what three different Iranian officials say on Tuesday.
One of them, an Iranian security official, warns that an attack will come from them and Hezbollah if the negotiations fail or they feel that Israel is carrying out extraction. They did not say how long Iran might wait.
Alerted attack
In recent days, the United States and Israel have warned that an Iranian attack on Israel can be expected within a few days, and the United States has sent naval vessels to the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to the defense of Israel.
The UN Security Council has convened a meeting on the situation in Gaza on Tuesday following the weekend’s attack on a school where hundreds of families had sought refuge. At least 80 people were killed, while Israel claims it killed 31 militants.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday condemned the attack and the continued killings in the Gaza Strip.
The war continues
Meanwhile, the war continues. On Tuesday, 19 people were killed in new Israeli attacks in the south and east of the Gaza Strip, and Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv.
In Deir al-Balah six people were killed, including a mother and her four-day-old twins, in nearby al-Buhreij seven were killed in the same house, in al-Maghazi camp four were killed in two attacks, and in Gaza by two more, according to ambulance workers.
Over the weekend, thousands more people were forced to flee the Khan Younis area after Israel announced new offensives against Hamas.
#United #States #pleads #parties #attend #Gaza #negotiations
2024-08-14 07:22:11
