Discussions continue in Paris for a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which is facing an unprecedented humanitarian situation. A delegation from Mossad, Israeli intelligence, arrived in the French capital this Saturday, February 24. Thursday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan for the post-war period, including Israeli maintenance of security in the enclave. A perspective strongly criticized, including by its American ally.
Information to remember
⇒ Talks for a truce continue in Paris
⇒ UNRWA calls for people to no longer “turn a blind eye” to the humanitarian catastrophe
⇒ The United States shoots down Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea
A truce in sight? Negotiations continue in Paris
An Israeli delegation led by the head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, is currently in Paris hoping to “unblock” talks for a new truce, according to an Israeli official. David Barnea met his American and Egyptian counterparts and the Prime Minister of Qatar in Paris at the end of January to discuss a new agreement.
According to a Hamas source, the plan then provided for a six-week pause in the fighting and the release of 200 to 300 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages held by Hamas. Talks also took place this week in Egypt.
Benjamin Netanyahu criticized for his “post-war” plan
While the conflict shows no sign of respite twenty weeks after its outbreak, the “post-war” plan for Gaza presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been widely criticized, including by the American ally. Thursday evening, the Prime Minister submitted to his government’s security cabinet a plan which notably provides for the maintenance of Israel’s “security control” over the territory, once the war is over.
Like the project presented at the beginning of January by his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu’s plan provides for the administration of the Gaza Strip to be entrusted to “local officials with administrative experience” and who are “not linked to countries or entities that support terrorism. The project does not mention Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, and does not provide for the creation of an independent State of Palestine, a perspective advocated by Washington, London and Paris.
It was immediately rejected by Palestinian rivals, Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, but also by the United States, Israel’s main ally. Visiting Argentina, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed his country’s opposition to any “Israeli reoccupation” of Gaza.
UNRWA calls for people to no longer “turn a blind eye” to the humanitarian catastrophe
In four and a half months, the war has displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and pushed around 2.2 million residents, the vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population, to the brink of famine, according to the UN. “We can no longer turn a blind eye to this human tragedy,” warned the United Nations agency to support Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on the social network X.
Concern is growing every day in Rafah, where there are at least 1.4 million people, most of whom have fled the fighting, and the upcoming target of a large-scale operation announced by the Israeli army. The aid, the entry of which is subject to the green light from Israel, is still insufficient and its delivery to the north is difficult due to destruction and fighting.
Lula reaffirms his accusations of “genocide” against Israel
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva persisted, Friday, February 23, in accusing Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians in Gaza, after recently triggering a diplomatic crisis by comparing the Israeli offensive against Hamas to the Holocaust.
“What the State of Israel is doing is not a war, it is a genocide, because it is killing women and children,” said Lula during a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, after being declared “persona non grata” by Israel on Monday for having made the same remarks. “These are not soldiers who are dying. If this is not genocide, I don’t know what genocide is,” he insisted.
US shoots down Houthi drones and missiles
In the Red Sea, Yemeni rebels, supported by Iran, have continued to target maritime traffic in this essential corridor of world trade since November. The American armed forces announced that they had shot down three attack drones from Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Friday and destroyed seven anti-ship missiles positioned on land.
Early Friday, the Americans “shot down three explosive attack drones near several merchant ships sailing in the Red Sea. There was no damage to the ships,” wrote the United States Middle Command. Orient (Centcom), in a press release. Centcom later reported that US forces had destroyed “seven Iranian-backed Houthi mobile anti-ship cruise missiles that were ready for launch toward the Red Sea.”
Since the Caesar ceremony, a call for a ceasefire
Since the Césars, the Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania then the Franco-Belgian actor Arieh Worthalter, who received the title of best documentary for “Les Filles d’Olfa” and best actor for “The Goldman Trial”, have called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“The massacre must stop. It’s so horrible and no one can say that they didn’t know. It’s the first live-screen massacre, live on our phones,” stressed the 46-year-old director. . “I too join a call for a ceasefire in Gaza because life demands it, that of Gazans and hostages, because we are united as a species,” said the actor. 38 years old.