Hamas studying new Israeli truce plan
MEDIATORS SEEK TO REVIVE TALKS
>> GAZA: Hamas said it was studying yesterday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after a delegation from mediator Egypt reportedly arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.
The signs of fresh truce talks came alongside ongoing Israeli preparations for a military push into Gaza’s southern city of Rafah and as spillover from the war led to continued attacks across the region.
“Today, t he Hamas movement received the official Zionist occupation response to the movement’s position, which was delivered to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13,” Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas’s political arm in Gaza, said in a brief statement early yesterday.
“The movement will study this proposal, and upon completion of its study, it will submit its response.”
Hamas had previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire, something rejected by Israel.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been unsuccessfully trying to seal a new truce deal in Gaza ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Several Israeli media outlets, citing unnamed officials, said Israel’s war cabinet had discussed a new plan for a truce and hostage release ahead of the Egyptian delegation’s visit.
There has been “noticeable progress in bringing the views of the Egyptian and Israeli delegations closer”, said Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence services.
The war i n Gaza was also on the agenda f or an international summit starting in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
The World Economic Forum special meeting, scheduled to begin in Riyadh today, will include a Gaza-focused session on Monday set to feature newly appointed Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations aid coordinator for the Gaza Strip.
“Discussions with European, American and regional counterparts on Gaza and the regional situation are planned in Riyadh,” a diplomatic source said Friday.
Witnesses in besieged Gaza reported fresh Israeli strikes overnight into yesterday around Rafah, the last urban centre Israeli ground forces have yet to enter.
Plans for an Israeli incursion into the city, which military leaders say is necessary to uproot Hamas battalions, have sparked opposition among the international community due to the presence of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians seeking refuge there.
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told AFP on Thursday that such an operation “will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations” and show “that Israel is interested in continuing the war”.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,356 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Israel estimates that 129 hostages are still being held by Hamas in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
On Friday, missiles fired from an Israeli jet hit Gaza City, killing at least three people in the Rimal neighbourhood, an AFP reporter said.
The European Union said Friday it was giving an extra $73 million in aid to Palestinians in Gaza “in light of the continued deterioration of the severe humanitarian crisis”.
The Gaza war has led to increased violence between Israel and Iran’s proxies and allies, in particular the Iranbacked militant group Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon.
Also on Friday, the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya said an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon had killed two of its senior commanders.
In response to what it called a “cowardly assassination”, Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at two military posts in northern Israel.
And in the Red Sea, a tanker was damaged when it was targeted with multiple missiles off Yemen’s coast on Friday. This was the latest attack on international shipping in the Red Sea to be claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.