The leader of the Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniya, began talks in Egypt this Wednesday on a new provisional ceasefire in the war with Israel, coinciding with contacts aimed at the release of hostages and increased humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, devastating and deadly Israeli aerial bombardments have continued, alongside fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, and as half of the civilian population faces extreme or severe hunger, the UN said.
Negotiations and international pressure to reach a second ceasefire have intensified, and Israeli bombing and ground operations continue.
The weeklong pause in late November, negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, allowed for the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and a boost in scarce humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which has since is provided. October 9 to an all-out Israeli siege.
Ismail Haniya, based in Qatar, arrived in Egypt this Wednesday, reported the Palestinian Islamic movement that has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.
The talks in Cairo will involve a “provisional one-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of 40 Israeli prisoners, women, children and men,” a source close to Hamas told the AFP news agency.
The same source stated that only civilians and not military hostages will be released, adding that the ceasefire “will likely be extended.”
However, a Hamas official in Gaza, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP “a total ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza are a prerequisite for any negotiations on an exchange” of Israeli hostages by Palestinian prisoners.
Before his departure, Haniya met in Doha with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a country linked to Hamas and an enemy of Israel.
According to a source from Islamic Jihad, which fights alongside Hamas, leader Ziyad al-Nakhala will also travel to Cairo early next week.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting with family members of the hostages that he had recently “sent the head of Mossad to Europe twice.” [serviços secretos israelitas] to promote a process of liberation”.
Also this Wednesday, a source close to the talks told AFP that the talks will continue afterwards “a constructive meeting that took place this week in Warsaw between the director of the Mossad [David] Barnea, the Prime Minister of Qatar [Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane Al-Thani] and the director of the CIA [William] Burns”.
“The aim was to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages (…) in exchange for a ceasefire and the eventual release of [prisioneiros] Palestinians”he added.
At the same time, discussions will continue this Wednesday in the UN Security Council, which has been trying since Monday to adopt a resolution that would speed up the sending of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The vote has already been postponed twice and member states are looking for a formula to prevent another veto from the United States, Israel’s main ally. The text, which initially called for an “urgent and lasting end to hostilities” in Gaza, now suggests a “suspension” of fighting.
On the ground, Israeli attacks continue, with devastating consequences for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. According to the UN, which calls it a “catastrophic situation”, most hospitals are out of service and 85% of the population, about 1.9 million inhabitants, have been displaced after leaving their neighborhoods, which were almost completely destroyed .
According to an Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report released this Wednesday, half of the Gaza Strip’s population suffers from extreme or severe illness, and 90% are regularly deprived of food throughout the day.
Despite the arrival of humanitarian aid, with the first column from Jordan next Wednesday, supplies are still far from meeting needs.
“Without the clean water, food and sanitation that only a humanitarian ceasefire can guarantee, the number of children dying from disease could exceed those killed in bombings.”warned UNICEF.
The recent war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli territory on October 7.
A total of 1,140 people, mostly civilians, were killed that day, according to a count by the AFP news agency based on the latest official Israeli figures.
In retaliation, Israel, which vowed to destroy the Islamist movement, has been bombing the Gaza Strip since October 7, where the local Hamas government says some 19,670 people, most of them civilians, have been killed.
Jewish authorities said on Wednesday that their army has lost 134 men since the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip began on October 27.
Source: DN
