An Israeli official told AFP on Saturday May 25 that Israel “intends” to relaunch negotiations this week to obtain the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Israel continued to bomb Rafah this Saturday, the day after a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering it to suspend its operations in this area where many Palestinian civilians are refugees.
Information to remember
⇒ Israel stands ready to resume hostage negotiations with Hamas.
⇒ Israeli strikes on Rafah continue.
⇒ Hamas reports a new death toll of nearly 36,000.
Towards a resumption of hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas
An Israeli official told AFP on Saturday that Israel “intends” to relaunch negotiations this week to obtain the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7. “There is an intention to resume discussions this week,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
This official did not give further details on the agreement, but Israeli media report that the head of Mossad – the Israeli intelligence service -, David Barnea, reached an agreement with the director of the CIA, Bill Burns, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani during a meeting in Paris on a new framework for the negotiations.
Earlier this week, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested the issuance of arrest warrants for alleged crimes committed in the Gaza Strip and in Israel against Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
If the Israeli government criticized this announcement, it nevertheless ordered its negotiators to “return to the negotiating table to obtain the return of the hostages”, according to a senior official.
At the beginning of May, indirect discussions between Israel and Hamas, through Qatar, Egypt and the United States, did not result in a truce agreement associated with the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners. held by Israel.
Israeli strikes continue in Rafah
The Israeli army bombs the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, the day after an ICJ decision ordering it to suspend its operations in this sector amid efforts in Paris to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The UN’s highest court – whose decisions are legally binding but which lacks mechanisms to implement them – also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, essential for the entry of humanitarian aid but closed after the launch of its ground operation in early May.
Israel affirmed that it “will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area” that could “lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population.” Its army launched ground operations there on May 7, with the objective of annihilating the last battalions of Hamas, the Islamist movement behind the unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7 that sparked the war.
New assessment of human losses on the Palestinian side
The Hamas Health Ministry announced on Saturday a new death toll of 35,903 in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7.
In 24 hours, at least 46 additional deaths were recorded, according to a press release from the ministry which also reports 80,420 injured in more than seven months of war.