Possible Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal emerges
Netanyahu cancels trip to the Americas over developments
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday canceled an official visit to Central and South America as a possible agreement to halt the violence and ease tensions along its border with the Gaza Strip appeared to be emerging.
An Israeli government official said the trip, during which Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with the presidents of Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala and Honduras, was being canceled “due to the situation in the south.”
The Israeli government also announced it had set a security Cabinet meeting for Sunday to discuss progress on a potential deal that the United Nations and Egypt are mediating with Hamas, the Islamist militia that rules the Palestinian Gaza Strip. One official called the negotiations “a breakthrough.”
But previous efforts to achieve a long-term truce between Israel and Gaza have fallen apart, though this marked the first time that the Israeli government has made reference to a possible arrangement. No details were released on what the agreement might include.
A truce would end four months of deadly protests on the Gazan side of the border and would likely lift Israeli measures, both military and economic, that have aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Some 136 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed since the protests began.
Gaza has also been hurt by a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in an uprising in 2007, making life increasingly tough with electricity shortages, rising unemployment and growing poverty.
President Donald Trump’s decision in January to slash American funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, an agency founded in 1949 to provide support for the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 ArabIsraeli War, has deepened the level of hurt by reducing many basic services in Gaza.
In the latest crackdown, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday ordered that all fuel and gas imports to Gaza be halted, a directive that was in response to Hamas’ ongoing campaign of launching balloons and kites carrying incendiary devices into Israel. The aerial attack has been blamed for starting dozens of fires that have burned farmland and forests.
The possibility of a truce first arose Sunday when Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, announced “a productive day of meetings” with Egyptian officials to “de-escalate the situation in Gaza, resolve all humanitarian issues and support (the) Egyptian-led reconciliation process.”
In the last week, Mladenov has met with senior Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, in Jerusalem and with Hamas officials in Gaza.
In another indication that a deal may be at hand, Hamas’ deputy leader, Saleh Arouri, arrived in Gaza late Thursday as part of a delegation of the organization’s officials exiled in Qatar.
Israel regards Arouri as a criminal. He was given assurances that he would not be detained or harmed.
Meanwhile, several initiatives to relieve the harsh living conditions in Gaza have been rolled out.
Without announcement, the Trump administration recently released several million dollars in funds to Palestinian Authority security forces that cooperate with Israel to maintain security in the West Bank. And a State Department spokesperson told National Public Radio that it is scrutinizing other Palestinian aid projects to determine their “value to U.S. taxpayers.”