Although optimism grew days ago about a possible truce between Israel and Hamas that would alleviate the desperate situation of residents in Gaza, this Sunday hopes were dashed.
Negotiations between both parties remain stalled and the current round of dialogue did not bring good news either, while Tel Aviv confirmed its refusal to end the war.
The Islamist group confirmed the departure of its representatives from Cairo, where the negotiations were taking place. In turn, he said he had delivered a response to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators to the proposed agreement, although without detailing its content.
“The current round of negotiations in Cairo ended recently and the Hamas delegation will leave Cairo tonight to hold consultations with the movement’s leaders,” said a statement from the Palestinian organization, cited by EFE.
The Hamas delegation is heading to Doha to meet with its leaders and will return to Cairo on Tuesday “to complete the negotiations,” Egyptian state television reported.
Netanyahu opposes ending war
Previously, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a recorded message in which he confirmed that Israel would not agree to end the war in Gaza as a condition for the truce.
The end of the conflict is a requirement demanded by Hamas for months to reach an agreement, which includes the return to Tel Aviv of the Israeli hostages captured on October 7.
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“Hamas has remained entrenched in its extreme positions, in particular the demand to withdraw all our forces from the Strip, end the war and leave Hamas intact,” Netanyahu lamented, he says. EFE.
“We are not willing to accept a situation in which Hamas battalions emerge from their safe havens, retake control of Gaza, rebuild their military infrastructure and once again threaten the citizens of Israel in adjacent communities,” he added, quoted by the agency.
The Spanish media itself reported almost simultaneous statements from the Islamist group, in which it reiterated that, although it remained willing to negotiate, there would be no agreement if Israel, and third countries such as the US, did not commit to ending the war.
“The priority of the movement is to stop the aggression against our people, which is a fundamental and logical position, and establishes a more stable future,” said Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.
“What is the point of an agreement if a ceasefire is not its first consequence?” he added.
The position of each side once again casts uncertainty on the future of a conflict in which more than 34,600 Gazans have already died, and which has turned the Palestinian enclave into an area of massive destruction, famine and unhealthiness.
In addition to bombs, people in Gaza also die from treatable diseases
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Censorship of Al Jazeera
Also this Sunday it became known that the Netanyahu Government censored the broadcasts of the Qatari channel Al Jazeera in Israel.
The censorship, which already had the approval of Parliament, is supported by a new law that allows the Ministry of Communication to close media that “harm the security of the State.”
“In accordance with the Government’s decision, the broadcasts of the Al Jazeera channel have been stopped in Israel,” could be read today in a message in Hebrew when trying to tune into the channel, it says. EFE.
The Spanish agency reports that Inspectors from the Ministry of Communications, together with police, raided the offices of Al Jazeera in the Ambassador Hotel, in East Jerusalem, and confiscated its equipment.
The measure has already had its first reactions in Israel itself.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA) of that country pointed out that with this decision, Israel joins a “dubious club of authoritarian governments” and assured that this Sunday was “a dark day for the media and for democracy.”
For its part, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) asked the Supreme Court of that nation to stop the execution of the order, which it described as “a dangerous erosion of press freedom.”
(With information from agencies)
