Shelters used by displaced Palestinians on Deir Al Balah beach in the southern Gaza Strip after fleeing the northern part of the enclave.
Photo: EFE – MOHAMMED SABER
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo this Saturday to discuss a proposed truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, without that perspective deterring Israel from its plan to invade the city of Rafah, where the international community fears a “bath of blood”.
An AFP correspondent reported intense fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in Gaza City, in the north of the territory. Medical sources also reported Israeli bombings in Rafah and the neighboring city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Palestinian territory.
After almost seven months of war, the mediators of the negotiations, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, are awaiting Hamas’s response to the latest truce proposal submitted at the end of April. This offer includes a 40-day cessation of fighting and an exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
The delegation sent to Cairo is headed by Khalil al Hayya, number two in the political arm of Hamas, indicated a senior official of the Islamist movement that has governed Gaza since 2007. A first round of negotiations was to begin in the early afternoon, with “the presence of delegations from Qatar, Egypt and the United States,” he added on condition of anonymity, stressing that there are still several points to be resolved.
Israel threatens attack on Rafah
According to the Axios portal, CIA chief William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital on Friday. In Jerusalem, an Israeli representative said the talks in Cairo would revolve around the “framework” of a possible exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Israel will only send a delegation if progress is made on the issue, he said, adding that he expected “difficult negotiations” to reach an agreement.
The Islamist group, classified as “terrorist” by Israel, the United States and the European Union, recalled that it is “determined” to obtain “a total cessation of aggression”, “the withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza and “an agreement serious for the exchange” of hostages for prisoners.
Israel opposes the definitive ceasefire and insists on launching a ground offensive against Rafah, at the southern tip of the Strip, considering it the last bastion of Hamas commandos. “We will do whatever it takes to win and defeat our enemy, also in Rafah,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated this week. Hosam Badran, a senior Hamas political official, said Friday that the Jewish leader sought with these statements to “thwart efforts” to reach a peace agreement.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, opposes an invasion of Rafah, especially if the Jewish state does not present a strategy to protect civilians. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that this offensive could lead to “a bloodbath” and announced a contingency plan to deal with it.
Around a million and a half Palestinians, most of them displaced by the fighting, are crowded into this town. According to the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing Egyptian sources, Israel will still give negotiations a week’s time before launching the offensive it has been preparing for weeks against Rafah.
Humanitarian aid in Gaza
A ground operation in Rafah could also compromise humanitarian aid entering the Strip, mostly through this city, located on the border with Egypt, which is already insufficient for the needs of the 2.4 million Gazans. An offensive would deal “a severe blow to humanitarian operations throughout Gaza,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned. Some countries have parachuted aid into the Palestinian territory and the United States is building an artificial port off the coast of the Strip to bring supplies by sea.
The war broke out on October 7 after the incursion of Islamist commandos that killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 in southern Israel, according to an AFP report based on Israeli data. Jewish authorities estimate that, following a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners in November, 129 people remain captive in Gaza and that 35 have died since then. So far, the offensive launched by Israel has left 34,654 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.
