The Palestinian terrorist militia Hamas launched a video this Saturday wherein they seem two of the individuals he took hostage throughout the October 7 assault and people he has stored in his possession since then.
The hostages who seem within the photographs are the American citizen Keith Samuel Siegel, who was kidnapped from his residence in Kfar Azza, and Omri Miranwho was kidnapped from his residence in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
The Israeli group that calls for the discharge of the captives has echoed this proof of life unfold by Hamas, which holds about 130 individuals in its energy, though a few of them could possibly be lifeless.
The video involves mild when Israel and Hamas haven’t but reached an settlement that will translate right into a truce within the struggle that started on account of that assault on October 7. Ceasefire of a number of weeks or Israeli army incursion in Rafah, the final nice fiefdom of the Islamist group Hamas In the Gaza Strip, these are the eventualities which might be opening up.
The coming days will dictate whether or not the devastating struggle takes a pause or enters into a brand new part that can worsen the humanitarian state of affairs within the Palestinian enclave and delay the captivity of the Israelis kidnapped within the jihadist assault on October 7 in opposition to southern Israel.
After a number of conferences between representatives of the Egyptian and Israeli safety businesses held in latest days in Tel Aviv and Cairothe brand new truce proposal doesn’t suggest the definitive finish of the struggle (as Hamas calls for) nor the discharge of all 133 hostages and the give up and disarmament of the militia (as Israel calls for) however it will lead the events to a primary part of calm as a platform for maybe a broader settlement.
“Hamas “has acquired the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal introduced to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13,” one of its leaders announced this Saturday from its headquarters in Doha, Jalil al Hayya, adding that they will study the document before give an answer.
Its leader in Gaza, Yahia Sinwar, has the last word about an initiative that, according to various leaks in Israeli and Arab media, establishes the release of between 20 and 40 kidnapped people included in the humanitarian category (young women, the elderly and the seriously ill) in the hands of Hamas (at least one day of truce for each released), the gradual return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners, a partial withdrawal of Israeli soldiers who, on the other hand, must not now commit to ending the massive offensive launched in response to the Hamas attack 204 days ago.
With Qatar in a more secondary role In recent weeks in mediation, Egypt and the United States have led efforts to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire that achieves three major short-term objectives: freeing hostages, alleviating the dramatic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and avoid a large-scale operation in Rafah that would hit the two previous goals and also strain Israel's relations with Washington and Cairo.
“The talks with Egypt have been very optimistic and constructive, reaching progress in all parameters. We hope that the terrorist group Hamas doesn’t reject the proposal once more because it has executed in latest months,” say Israeli sources, ensuring that their country is willing to carry out significant concessions for a humanitarian ceasefire that includes the release of at least 33 kidnapped people and not the 40 contemplated in the proposal agreed at the Paris summit in March. Hamas, for its part, alleges that it only has 20 under its control and in the humanitarian category.
Israel warns Hamas that the new truce proposal is its last chance to avoid an operation in Rafah. His warning, for the moment, seems to be taken more seriously and with concern by Egypt given that Rafah is a border area with the Sinai with all that this means in the event of an Israeli invasion.
Either for exert pressure at the negotiation table or as concrete and operational steps on the ground, the Army has completed all preparations for the ground incursion into Rafah. This includes and in coordination with the US a previous phase, expected to last several weeks, to allow the evacuation of civilians to humanitarian enclaves with tens of thousands of tents and field hospitals in other areas of the Palestinian strip.
“Now all that’s lacking is the inexperienced mild from the cupboard,” say military sources in a message intended for both Hamas as well as the mediators to pressure the militia to accept the truce that Israel considers vital and urgent to free its own people given that with the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer alive. The Army and the majority of ministers in the war cabinet are in favor of an immediate ceasefire, giving priority to the hostages, while the ultranationalist wing of the Government, represented in two ministers, already demands “the offensive in Rafah to utterly finish with the terrorist regime in Gaza“.
The Rafah offensive-that the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces for three months to eliminate the last four Hamas battalions and seal the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt – has strong opposition from the international community since more than a million people displaced by the offensive in the north are crowded into that area. and center of the Gaza Strip.
USA that initially veto the operation outright, could ultimately tolerate a very limited incursion as long as Israel ensures the protection of civilians and their safe evacuation. However, the Biden Administration is pushing to avoid this and sees the ceasefire proposal as the best way to achieve it. Maybe the last one.
Hence the decision of the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to make a lightning visit to Israel next Tuesday from Saudi Arabia and the joint call with 17 other countries to Hamas to release immediately to the hostages and accept the proposed agreement that is on the table. “It would deliver an instantaneous and extended ceasefire in Gaza that will facilitate a rise within the obligatory extra humanitarian help to be delivered all through the Gaza Strip and result in a reputable finish to hostilities. Gazans would be capable of return to their houses now their lands with advance preparations to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions,” says the letter signed by the countries whose citizens were also kidnapped in the attack by the armed wing of Hamas.
“US strain doesn’t affect us or modify our demand that the tip of the struggle be a part of any alternate settlement,” responded the Islamist leader Sami Abu Zuhri, reiterating Hamas' demands: “Ensure the tip of aggression, the withdrawal of the occupation, the return of the displaced, the entry of help, shelter tools and reconstruction.” While Israel and the US accuse Sinwar of torpedoing truce attempts in recent months, the Islamist movement blames Netanyahu for the failure in a negotiating process that is experiencing critical moments that will decide not only what happens in Rafah but also in the armed confrontation between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hizbul.
https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2024/04/27/662ce0f9fdddffc8088b4586.html