PRESSURE MOUNTS ON ISRAEL FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE
CIA, Mossad chiefs meet in Cairo for new round of talks on proposal brokered by Qatar
IMany people there have been displaced — displaced multiple times, fleeing the violence to the north, and now they’re packed into Rafah — exposed and vulnerable.”
Joe Biden | US President
srael faced growing international pressure yesterday to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, as it prepared for an incursion into the crowded southern Gaza City of Rafah where more than a million Palestinians are trapped.
CIA Director William Burns met with Mossad chief David Barnea in Cairo yesterday for a new round of talks on a Qatari-brokered ceasefire proposal, which would temporarily halt fighting in exchange for Hamas freeing hostages.
The two intelligence chiefs were joined in Cairo by the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian officials, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News reported — two countries in the middle of mediation efforts as ceasefire proposals bounce back and forth between the two sides.
The meeting came after the United States and the United Nations warned Israel against carrying out a ground offensive into Rafah without a plan to protect civilians, who say they have nowhere left to go.
“Wherever we go there’s bombing, martyrs and wounded,” said Iman Dergham, a displaced Palestinian woman.
After White House talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Monday, US President Joe Biden said civilians in Rafah “need to be protected”. “Many people there have been displaced — displaced multiple times, fleeing the violence to the north, and now they’re packed into Rafah — exposed and vulnerable,” he said.
Lasting truce
King Abdullah pushed for a “lasting ceasefire” to end the more than four-month-old war, warning an Israeli attack on Rafah is “certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe”.
Other countries urged caution on a ground assault, including China, Germany and Norway.
After rejecting Hamas’ terms for a truce last week, Israel conducted a Monday pre-dawn raid in Rafah that freed two hostages and killed around 100 people.
Netanyahu hailed the operation that freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, as “perfect”, while the Palestinian foreign ministry said the deaths of dozens of Gazans amounted to a “massacre”.
A Hamas official told AFP they were waiting for the outcome of the Cairo meeting but were “open to discussing any initiative that achieves an end to aggression and war.”
Over half of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have sought refuge in Rafah, pressed up against the Egypt border in makeshift camps where they face outbreaks of hepatitis and diarrhoea, and a scarcity of food and water.
Some families, already displaced several times, were starting to dismantle tents and gather their belongings to flee once again. “We escaped the north with empty hands, then we escaped Khan Younis with almost empty hands,” said one, Ismail Joundiyah. “We want to be ready this time.”
Netanyahu has said Israel will provide “safe passage” to civilians trying to leave, but foreign governments, Gazans and aid groups questioned where they could go. “There is no place that is currently safe in Gaza,” said United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
A report in the Wall Street Journal yesterday said Israel was proposing to create 15 large campsites, of around 25,000 tents each in the southwestern Gaza Strip, as part of an evacuation plan.
Journalists wounded
As smoke was seen rising over Rafah, Al Jazeera said yesterday that two of its journalists were severely wounded in an Israeli strike on the city.
Reporter Ismail Abu Omar’s life is at risk after having his right leg amputated, while cameraman Ahmad Matar has suffered multiple wounds and severe bleeding, the Qatar-based broadcaster said quoting an emergency physician.
The war has taken a heavy toll on reporters in Gaza. So far 85 journalists and media professionals have been confirmed killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in their latest toll to February 7.
At least 28,473 people, mostly women and children, have died in Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground offensive in Hamas-run Gaza, according to the health ministry.