Hope for a lull? Negotiations resume this Sunday, March 3 in Cairo (Egypt), on a possible truce during Ramadan in Gaza, where the first American airdrops of humanitarian aid have begun for the starving civilian population.
Information to remember
⇒ Gaza: Hamas says truce is possible within “24-48 hours” if Israel accepts its demands
⇒ US begins aid airdrops on Gaza
⇒ Gaza: Hamas Health Ministry announces eleven dead in Israeli strike near hospital
Hamas says truce possible within ’24-48 hours’ if Israel accepts its demands
A senior Hamas official told AFP this Sunday that a truce in the Gaza Strip was possible “within 24-48 hours” if Israel accepted the demands of the Palestinian Islamist movement. “If Israel agrees to Hamas’s demands, which include the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid, this could pave the way for an agreement (on a truce) within the next 24 to 48 hours “, he said. Negotiations are to be held this Sunday in Cairo, in the presence of representatives of Hamas, Qatar and the United States to “start a new round of negotiations” with a view to a truce, according to the pro-government Egyptian media Al-Qahera.
Israel had “more or less” accepted a truce agreement in Gaza, now placing the ball “in Hamas’s court”, a US official said on Saturday.
US begins aid airdrops on Gaza
The United States began airdrops of aid to Gaza on Saturday, delivering more than 38,000 meals, the American military said, after almost five months of war which caused a serious humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. This announcement comes two days after an aid distribution turned into a tragedy in the Gaza Strip, bombed and besieged by the Israeli army, and threatened with famine according to the UN. Three U.S. military planes dropped food in an effort to “help civilians affected by the current conflict,” a U.S. Middle East Command (Centcom) official said.
Paris: a sixty-year-old beaten when leaving a synagogue, Darmanin denounces an “unspeakable act
A sixty-year-old leaving a synagogue in Paris on Friday was beaten and insulted as a “dirty Jew”, we learned on Saturday from police sources, with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin denouncing a “new anti-Semitic attack” and a ” unspeakable act.” “According to the first elements, a new anti-Semitic attack took place in Paris last night,” wrote Gérald Darmanin on X. “Everything is being done to find the author of this unspeakable act,” he added. The attack took place on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on rue des Orteaux, in the 20th arrondissement, police sources told AFP.
Israeli strike near hospital
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Saturday the death of eleven people in an Israeli strike that hit the tents of displaced civilians near a hospital in Rafah, a town at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army claimed for its part to have carried out “a precision strike” against fighters of Islamic Jihad, the second armed group in the Gaza Strip, and to have caused “no damage to the hospital in the area”.
Hamas Health Ministry announces new death toll of 30,410
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced this Sunday a new toll of 30,410 people killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement. He also reported, in a statement, 90 deaths in the last 24 hours and a total of 71,700 injured in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war on October 7.
Subsidies threatened: Aurore Bergé defends herself against any exploitation
The Minister responsible for Equality between women and men, Aurore Bergé, defended herself on Saturday from any exploitation after having mentioned the idea of cutting subsidies to feminist associations having made “ambiguous comments” on the attack on Hamas in Israel on October 7. Aurore Bergé announced in mid-February that the government was “sifting” the declarations linked to the unprecedented attack of October 7 on all feminist associations, expressing its refusal to see the State financially support “associations which do not know how to characterize what happened.
Arrival in Jerusalem of a march to demand the release of the hostages
Thousands of demonstrators arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday evening following a four-day march aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas on the release of hostages held in Gaza. This march began near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli media, around 15,000 people took part when it arrived in Jerusalem, with organizers citing 20,000 participants. “Together we will bring back […] people kidnapped from home,” Gabriela Leimberg, a former Hamas hostage released during a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement in November, told AFP.