Weakened in recent days, the truce between Hamas and Israel is good. After several days of uncertainty, the Palestinian Islamist movement said it was ready Thursday, February 13, to respect the calendar agreed in the truce agreement, suggesting a new exchange of prisoners for hostages this weekend. It will be the sixth exchange since the start of the ceasefire on January 19. According to extra news television, close to the Egyptian state, mediation led by Egypt and Qatar made it possible to “overcome the obstacles” which put the truce in danger.
Out of 251 people taken by force to Gaza on October 7, 2023, 73 are still there, at least 35 of which died, according to the Israeli army. Since January 19, 16 Israeli hostages and 765 Palestinian prisoners have been released, out of a total of 33 hostages and 1,900 detainees before the 42 days of the first phase of the agreement.
Info to remember
⇒ Israel awaits the names of the three liberable hostages on Saturday
⇒ The ICRC is “very worried” of the situation of the hostages
⇒ The United States says they are open to the ideas of Arab countries for Gaza
Israel awaits the names of the three liberable hostages on Saturday
Hamas is due to announce this Friday, February 14, to the Israeli authorities on Friday, February 14, the names of the three hostages it intends to release on Saturday against Palestinian prisoners, after exchanges of threats between the two camps that caused the resumption of fighting to be feared. The truce agreement “clearly stipulates that three living hostages must be released on Saturday by Hamas terrorists,” said David Mencer, spokesperson for Israeli government on Thursday. “We have already raised forces inside and around Gaza, so if these three are not released […] By Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, “he warned.
This Friday morning, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated the exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners between Israel and Hamas, said it was “very worried” of the situation of hostages retained for more 16 months in the Gaza Strip. The latest liberation operations strengthen the urgent need for the ICRC to have access to the people selected hostage. We are very worried about the living conditions of the hostages, “said the Red Cross in a message on its X account.” We have always repeated that the release and transfer operations should take place in dignity and in complete safety. The ICRC will continue its efforts so that all hostages are released, until the last of them is returned, “she added.
According to Marco Rubio, the United States is open to the ideas of Arab countries for Gaza
After the announcement by Donald Trump of a project to place Gaza under American control to make it a “Côte d’Azur du Middle East”, which the Palestinians would be driven out and would not have the right to return, the secretary of ‘US state Marco Rubio said Thursday that the United States was open to any other proposal from the Arab countries. “For the moment the only plan – they do not like it – but the only plan is that of Trump. So if they have a better one, the time has come to present it,” He says. “Hoping that they will have a very good plan to present to the president,” he added in the radio program of two conservative presenters.
Marco Rubio is about to start a tour in the Middle East. He must go to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, from Sunday to Tuesday. The Saudi stage promises to be particularly intense, Ryad being supposed to play a key role in Donald Trump’s projects for the region.
Expelling the inhabitants of Gaza would be “extremely dangerous,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in An interview with Financial Times published on Friday. “For me, the solution is not a real estate solution. It is a political solution,” he added.
Lebanon refuses a request from Israel to maintain positions in the South
Lebanon informed the American mediator on Thursday of his refusal of a request from Israel to maintain his forces in five positions in the south of the country beyond February 18, a period fixed for their withdrawal. This refusal was announced by the president of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, after a meeting in Beirut with the United States ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, and the American general Jasper Jeffers. The latter is the head of the committee responsible for supervising the cease-fire agreement entered into force on November 27 after more than two months of open war between the Lebanese Hezbollah Pro-Iranian and Israel. “The Americans informed me that the Israeli occupation would withdraw on February 18 from the villages which it still occupies, but that it would maintain five positions,” said Nabih Berri, according to his office. “I told them, on my behalf and on behalf of the President and the Prime Minister, our total rejection of this.”
On the sidelines of an international conference on Syria in Paris, the chief of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, proposed that certain peacekeepers, including French, be deployed on positions in southern Lebanon to allow “a Complete and final removal of these troops. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is “agree” with this proposal, he said.