Israel has assured that it will stop negotiations for a truce in Gaza until Hamas provides a list of Israeli hostages still alive in Gaza, according to the American media Axios. The list was part of a pact between Egypt and Qatar, mediator countries for the ceasefire, and the Israeli Government to continue talks, but Israel claims to have not yet received the list.
Hamas has reported that seven of the hostages have died in attacks by the Israeli army. “We tried to keep them alive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on killing them all,” said the commander of the militia’s armed wing, Abu Ubaida.
On the other hand, a large part of the international community has condemned Thursday’s aggression in Gaza in which more than a hundred people died while trying to get food in a convoy in Gaza City (north). The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has called for an “independent investigation” into the massacre, as has also been done by the German Government, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, or the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who has demanded that efforts be redoubled for a truce that allows the delivery of aid to the enclave. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, stated: “These deaths are totally unacceptable. “Depriving people of food aid constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
Meanwhile, the European Union has announced that next week it will disburse 50 of the 82 million euros planned to finance UNRWA. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has welcomed Brussels’ decision and assures that it comes at a “critical moment”, adding that “the full disbursement of the EU contribution is key to the agency’s ability to maintain its operations in a very volatile area.”
The United States, for its part, has announced that it will resort to launching humanitarian aid from planes to try to supply Gaza, where conditions are increasingly approaching famine, as reported by US President Joe Biden. Jordan, Belgium and other countries have also airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Jordanian Armed Forces have launched three aid packages on northern Gaza; This Friday, Belgium joined Israel’s block of supplies entering by land.
