Hamas announced this Sunday that he will respond on Monday to the latest Israeli proposal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, as diplomatic efforts to end more than six months of war intensify.
The Israeli government faces increasing internal and international pressure to reach an agreement to end the incessant bombings in Gaza, ruled by the Hamas terrorist movement since 2007.
“A Hamas delegation, led by Khalil Al Hayya, will arrive tomorrow Egypt (…) and will give the movement’s response” to the Israeli proposal, declared a senior official of the group to AFP.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States They are trying to mediate a new ceasefire in the narrow and devastated territory, where almost the entire population is on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
The news portal Axiosciting two senior Israeli officials, reported that the latest Israeli proposal included a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza following the release of hostages.
A Hamas source close to the negotiations told AFP that the group was “open to discussing the new proposal in a positive way.”
The source added that the group was “eager to reach an agreement that guarantees a permanent ceasefire, the return of the displaced, an acceptable agreement for the exchange [de prisioneros] and the end of the siege” in Gaza.
The countries waiting for an agreement to be reached participated on Sunday in the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabiawhere the Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, He stated that the international community had failed to find a solution for Gaza.
“The situation in Gaza is obviously a catastrophe in every sense: humanitarian, but also a total failure of the existing political system to deal with that crisis,” he declared.
Only “a credible and irreversible path towards a Palestinian state” will prevent the world from facing “this same situation in two, three or four years,” he added.
The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will travel to Saudi Arabia this Monday to participate in a ministerial meeting with regional partners within the World Economic Forum (WEF) in which he will discuss the “ongoing efforts” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. It was also later confirmed that the trip to the region will include trips to Israel and Jordan.
“The Secretary will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that ensures the release of hostages and how Hamas stands between the Palestinian people and a ceasefire,” the State Department announced in a statement. released this weekend.
Blinken, who will also be in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, attends this meeting organized by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf to “advance security coordination” at a time when the negotiations for the ceasefire The fires in Gaza are at a stalemate and the conflict has been threatening to escalate regionally for weeks.
“(Blinken) will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace and security in the regionincluding through a path to an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel,” the State Department statement continues.
This trip by Blinken to Saudi Arabia comes after he already visited this same country last month to meet with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salmanand address Hamas’ hostage releases.
Saudi Arabia’s role could be fundamental within a hypothetical broader agreement in which it would normalize relations with the Jewish State while materializing the two-state solution – one for Israel and the other for Palestine – and culminating the ceasefire negotiations, US diplomatic sources reported days ago.
The conflict began on October 7, with an incursion by Islamist militiamen who killed 1,170 peoplemostly civilians, in southern Israel and kidnapped about 250, according to a count AFP based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive has so far leftor 34,454 deaths in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.
Israeli authorities estimate that there are still 129 hostages held captive in Gaza, 34 of whom would have died. The last truce at the end of November allowed 80 hostages to be exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The terrorist group released a video on Saturday in which two of the hostages urge the Israeli government to reach an agreement so they can regain their freedom.
“The situation is unpleasant, difficult and there are many bombs,” he says in the recording. Omri Miran, 47 years old.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
