The White House announced Thursday that Israel has agreed to daily four-hour pauses in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, which will be announced three hours earlier, to allow more civilians to leave the region and improve humanitarian access. to facilitate the enclave. Palestinian. “There is no ceasefire. What we are doing in this four-hour period are tactical and local pauses for humanitarian assistance.”, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed. But another spokesperson, this time from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, was not committed to the duration of the breaks.
The four-hour breaks were the maximum that US President Joe Biden could convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden confirmed to reporters before leaving the White House on Thursday en route to an event in Illinois that he had requested breaks of three days or more. Asked if he was frustrated with Netanyahu, the president replied: “It’s taking a little longer than I thought.” And regarding a ceasefire, he reiterated that “there is no possibility.”
The four-hour break is “a step in the right direction,” according to White House National Security spokesman John Kirby. But a spokesman for Netanyahu’s office, Eylon Levy, is quoted by The Wall Street Journalsaid that would not “commit to the exact length” of these breaks, explaining that Wednesday’s breaks lasted four hours and confirming that the IDF will “continue to facilitate security corridors” for civilians to leave northern Gaza. According to the Israelis, 50,000 people fled on Wednesday alone.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated that the measures are “localized” to allow Palestinian refugees to flee Hamas through two security corridors. “These things are not detrimental to the fighting in the war,” he said when asked by a reporter about the White House announcement. And he stressed that the war will continue until the terrorist group is defeated and the hostages are released.
United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric argued that any humanitarian pause in Gaza must be coordinated with the organization as it is responsible for sending aid. “In order to do this safely for humanitarian purposes, all parties to the conflict obviously have to agree on it for it to be truly effective.” he also said during a press conference in New York.
Hostage negotiations
According to Israeli authorities, Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Netanyahu’s government immediately declared war on the Palestinian terror group and laid siege to the Gaza Strip. Since then, daily bombings have killed more than ten thousand people in the enclave (more than a third of them children), according to the local Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas. Since October 27, the Israeli offensive has also been carried out on land, encircling the city of Gaza.
On the day of the attack, Hamas reportedly took at least 240 people as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu rules out a ceasefire without the prior release of the hostages the director of the Mossad (Israeli secret services), Davir Barnea, and the head of the CIA (the North American secret service), Bill Burns, will discuss “a possible humanitarian truce” with the Qatari authorities. Doha, which has ties with the Palestinians and Hamas itself, has facilitated the negotiations and (along with Egypt) has already succeeded in releasing four hostages.
According to an unnamed official who told the AFP agency, the truce being negotiated would precisely mean “the release of hostages and more assistance in entering Gaza.” The same source said that “Negotiations are well advanced towards an agreement.” But what was on the table would be a three-day truce, as Biden requested.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (an ally of Hamas) released a video of an elderly woman and a young man – later identified as 77-year-old Hanna Katzir and 12-year-old Yagil Yaakov – humanitarian and medical, when the right conditions are met met. but gave no further details.
In the video statements, the two hostages – who appear to be under signs of stress and coercion – ask for their release and thank Islamic Jihad for the conditions they find themselves in, attributing responsibility for their situation to Netanyahu. Yagil said he “misses his family very much” and called for an end to attacks on Gaza, as well as “the return of water, electricity and medicine.”
Paris raises billions for Gaza
The ‘humanitarian conference’ organized by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris made it possible to raise a billion euros in aid pledges for Gaza – a figure that will not be entirely new, as it also includes the contributions made since the attack has been delivered. Portugal will contribute ten million euros, announced State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Francisco André, who was in the French capital.
“We must work to protect citizens. For this we need a very quick humanitarian pause and we must move towards a ceasefire.” Macron said this to representatives of about fifty countries and humanitarian organizations. If Israel has “the right to defend itself and the obligation to protect its own,” its government also has “the responsibility to respect the law and protect civilians,” he emphasized.
Source: DN
