GAZA WAR DEATH TOLL HITS 20,000 AMID CALLS FOR TRUCE
▶ Hamas leader Haniyeh travels to Egypt for talks with intelligence chief
The death toll in Gaza yesterday breached the grim milestone of 20,000, including about 8,000 children, as Israel continued its strikes on the enclave.
About 6,200 women are also among those killed since the war began in October, with the Israeli government now under increasing international pressure, including from its closest ally the US, to reduce its military campaign.
US President Joe Biden last week publicly rebuked Israel over its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza and acknowledged that global support for the country was waning.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also voiced hope yesterday of a positive outcome to a delayed UN Security Council resolution on the war, after previous US vetoes.
“We’ve been working on this intensely. I hope we can get to a good place,” he said.
It comes amid diplomatic pushes for a ceasefire around the world and talks in Egypt yesterday between the country’s head of intelligence and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The meeting focused on the “aggression in the Gaza Strip and other matters”, the militant group said.
Mr Haniyeh was also to discuss “stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners”, a source told AFP.
Mr Haniyeh earlier met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Qatar.
Mr Haniyeh last month visited Egypt during a seven-day pause in the war, when more than 100 hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, meanwhile, arrived in Jordan yesterday to push for a “sustainable ceasefire”.
Aid organisations said the enclave’s nearly 2.3 million residents are on the verge of catastrophe after 90 per cent were forced from their homes and Israel enforced a blockade on food and medical supplies.
Hamas’s political leaders met Egyptian officials in Cairo yesterday to discuss the prospects of a truce in Gaza, as well as the political and security status of the enclave after the war.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh intended to discuss “aggression in the Gaza Strip and other matters” during talks in the Egyptian capital, the militant group said.
He was due to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel for talks on “stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners”, a source close to the group told AFP.
Mr Haniyeh – who earlier met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Qatar – was heading a “high-level delegation” to Egypt, a frequent mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, the source said.
Egyptian officials said the talks between Mr Kamel and Mr Haniyeh, who was accompanied by several senior members of Hamas, would be primarily focused on what have become known as “day after” scenarios for what to do after the current round of hostilities between Israel and the militant group, which governs the Gaza Strip, has ceased.
International pressure is mounting for a new truce that could include an increase in aid deliveries to Gaza.
Mr Haniyeh’s talks in Cairo are on a separate but related track from negotiations to reach a humanitarian truce and another hostage and detainee swap, the officials said.
Those talks – mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt – are in their final stages and could bear fruit if the warring parties are able to reach compromises on several outstanding issues.
Hamas was proposing the release of about 50 hostages, including serving members of the Israeli military, in exchange for 300 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
The timing of the releases would be staggered and their continuation would depend upon both sides observing the terms of the agreement.
Several differences still need to be ironed out during the negotiations, including the duration of a pause in hostilities. While Israel is offering a temporary but renewable truce, Hamas is insisting on a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the sources said.
Israel also wants to create at
Haniyeh’s visit to Cairo was in part motivated by his desire not to be left out of talks on postwar scenarios for Gaza
least four buffer zones inside Gaza to prevent Hamas and other militant groups from crossing into its territory.
Israel also has reservations about some of the high-profile members of Hamas and the Fatah faction whose release from Israeli prisons has been requested by the militant group.
The negotiations on both tracks come after the UN Security Council delayed a vote scheduled for Tuesday on a resolution calling for a pause in the conflict.
The US, Israel’s closest ally and aid benefactor, vetoed a previous ceasefire resolution during a vote in the council, leading to condemnation by Palestinian and humanitarian groups.
During a week-long truce that ended on December 1, 240 Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of 80 hostages by Hamas.
Israeli leaders are now facing growing calls to secure the release of the rest of the captives, abducted by Hamas on October 7, and on Tuesday signalled its willingness to return to the negotiating table with the militant group.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country was “ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had recently sent his spy chief on two trips to Europe in an effort to “free our hostages”.
David Barnea, head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman and CIA director William Burns to discuss the terms of an agreement to free the hostages, US news site Axios reported on Monday.
One of the reasons for Mr Haniyeh and his delegates’ visit to Cairo is to ensure they are not left out of discussions regarding “day after” scenarios for the enclave, with participation from the US, Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and, indirectly, Hamas leaders living in Gaza and closely associated with the group’s military wing, the Egyptian sources told The National.
Proposals floated for postwar Gaza include a demilitarised Palestinian state in the enclave and the occupied West Bank. Those involved in the talks have also suggested holding legislative and presidential elections in the territories and subsequently empowering the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to run both regions.
It has also been suggested that a multinational force with heavy Jordanian and Egyptian involvement be stationed in the Gaza Strip for a limited period after Israel’s withdrawal.