Expectations of a truce in Gaza and the release of the hostages were reactivated this Monday with the meeting in Cairo of a Hamas delegation with the mediators, after almost seven months of war between the Palestinian movement and Israel. The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinkensaid from Saudi Arabia that he feels “optimistic” for the Palestinian Islamist movement to accept the Israeli proposalwhich he described as “extraordinarily generous”.
Cease fire for 40 days
A Hamas delegation met in Cairo with negotiators from Egypt and Qatar (two mediating countries along with the United States) to provide a response to the suggested truce. The representatives of the Palestinian movement have already left Egypt and are in Qatar “to debate the ideas and the proposal (…) we are ready to respond as soon as possible,” an anonymous Hamas source told AFP.
Blinken, who will later visit Israel and Jordan, participated in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum (WEF) where several foreign ministers from Western and Arab countries discussed how to join forces for a solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that leads to the creation of two states.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Cameronsaid in the forum that proposed Hamas truce plan includes 40-day ceasefireas well as “the potential release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of hostages.” “I hope Hamas accepts that deal”Cameron said. In turn, the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fayçal bin Farhan, declared that “it is absolutely necessary that any ceasefire be permanent and not temporary.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Samed Shoukry said the proposal takes into account “the positions of both parties.” Although there is still no “final decision,” Shoukry was hopeful and said he hoped “that everyone will rise to the occasion.” So far no negotiations have been able to reach an agreement that includes a truce, the release of Israeli hostages and more humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Blinken I affirm that “Hamas has before it an extraordinarily generous proposal from Israel”. “They have to make a decision, and they have to make it quickly (…) I hope they make the right decision,” added the US official. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called on the United States to prevent Israel from launching an offensive against Rafah.
“We know that an agreement is possible”
The international community and humanitarian organizations fear a bloodbath if Israel launches the offensive against Rafah, in the extreme south of the territory, where nearly 1.5 million displaced people are crowded, and against which Israel wants to launch a ground offensive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends that an offensive against Rafah is necessary to end Hamas.
At least 22 people died on Monday in this city next to Egypt’s closed border, the main entry point for humanitarian aid in the small territory. The war broke out on October 7, with the unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos in southern Israel, in which 1,170 people died, according to a count based on official data. The Islamists kidnapped some 250 people and 129 are still held in Gaza. In retaliation, Israel launched a military campaign against the territory that has so far left 34,488 dead according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Netanyahu’s government is under pressure from the hostages’ families to reach an agreement. “We know a deal is possible.. “Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States, we have confidence in you and we ask you to do everything you can to bring our relatives back now,” he declared. Elan Siegeldaughter of Keith Siegel, one of the captives still in Gaza and who appeared on Saturday in a video released by Hamas.
