Efforts for a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas are coming up against the inflexibility of both camps, an impasse that international mediators are expected to attempt to resolve on Monday during an “emergency meeting” in Qatar after seven months of war. Meanwhile, the Israeli army is “encouraging” residents of Rahah to go to humanitarian areas, and claims to have initiated a “limited” and “temporary” evacuation of the town of Rafah, which would affect around 100,000 people over more of a million.
Information to remember
⇒ Israel “encourages” Rafah residents to go to humanitarian areas
⇒ Negotiations on a truce still at an impasse
⇒ The head of the CIA in Qatar
Israel launches ‘limited’ and ‘temporary’ evacuation of Rafah
Israel launched an operation on Monday aimed at evacuating tens of thousands of Palestinian families from the east of the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the army is preparing a major offensive in its war against Hamas. The IDF nevertheless declared that it was carrying out a limited-scale operation to temporarily evacuate people residing in eastern Rafah, estimating the number of people concerned at “around 100,000”. According to the UN, around 1.2 million inhabitants, the majority pushed there by the fighting, crowd into Rafah, a town on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights deemed the evacuation order “inhumane”. “This is contrary to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” Volker Türk said in a statement.
“The evacuation process has begun on the ground. Residents are evacuating in terror and panic,” said Ossama al-Kahlout, a Palestinian Red Crescent official in eastern Rafah, adding that the designated areas were home to approximately 250,000 people. Residents told AFP they learned the news when they woke up, after a night of anxiety punctuated by around ten Israeli strikes. Some were preparing their things, in their tents flooded by heavy rain.
The Israeli army on Monday called on Gazans present in the east of the town of Rafah, against which Israel has been hammering out for months its intention to carry out a major military offensive, to move to “humanitarian zones”. “The army is encouraging residents of eastern Rafah to move to expanded humanitarian areas,” it said in a statement.
Paris reiterates its “firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive on Rafah
France reiterated this Monday its “firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while Israel launched an evacuation operation in this city of dozens thousands of Palestinians. Paris recalls “that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime within the meaning of international law”, underlines the Quai d’Orsay.
Strikes in Rafah
The Israeli army continued to strike the Palestinian territory early in the night, killing 16 people from two families in Rafah and its surroundings in the south of the Gaza Strip. Rescuers reported nine deaths in the Al Attar family and seven others in the Keshta family. A hospital source confirmed the results of the two Israeli strikes on Sunday evening “in the Yebna refugee camp in Rafah and in the surroundings of Al Salam”.
Rockets on Kerem Shalom
The Israeli army told AFP that four of its soldiers were killed and 12 others injured on Sunday by rockets fired by the armed wing of Hamas around Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid from Israel to the Gaza Strip. The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades claimed responsibility for the fire, which led Israel to close the crossing used to deliver aid to Gaza.
The Israeli army reported Monday morning on X that it had intercepted an “enemy drone flying towards Israel.” The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a nebula of fighters from pro-Iran armed groups, had previously announced on Telegram that it had targeted the port of Eilat, at the southern tip of Israeli territory, the target in February of ballistic missiles intercepted by Yemeni Houthi rebels.
Truce negotiations still at an impasse
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Sunday that Israel could not “accept” the demands of the Islamist movement, which calls for a definitive ceasefire in the Palestinian territory as a prerequisite for any agreement, in particular on the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7 in Israel.
The leader of Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh, based in Qatar, had previously accused Benjamin Netanyahu of “sabotaging the efforts of the mediators” with a view to a truce, meeting in Cairo in the absence of Israel. The offer from the mediator countries, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, presented to Hamas at the end of April, provides for a truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. But a Hamas official said Sunday that the movement would “under no circumstances accept an agreement that does not explicitly provide for an end to the war.”
The Hamas delegation in Cairo, which left for Doha on Sunday evening for consultations, according to an official of the Islamist movement, must return to Egypt on Tuesday “to complete the negotiations”, indicated a media close to Egyptian intelligence, Al-Qahera News . Hamas also indicated on Monday that it intended to continue negotiating a truce.
The head of the CIA in Qatar
After a stop in Cairo, according to American media, the head of American intelligence William Burns is expected Monday in Qatar, the main mediating country, according to a source close to the negotiations.
“In the absence of progress” during the discussions in Cairo, William Burns must have an “emergency meeting with the Prime Minister” of the emirate, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al Thani, “in order to discuss ways to restore talks on track”, according to this source.
Netanyahu still inflexible
Benjamin Netanyahu warned “world leaders that no pressure, no decision from an international body will prevent Israel from defending itself.” “If Israel must remain alone, Israel will remain alone,” insisted the Israeli Prime Minister, while denouncing the “terrible volcano of anti-Semitism” surging, according to him, across the entire world against Israel.
The leader also announced his government’s decision to close the office in Israel of the Al-Jazeera channel, based in Qatar, whose signal was cut. Al-Jazeera, which gave extensive space to coverage of the war in Gaza, denounced a “criminal” decision.
Berlin implores both sides to preserve negotiations
The German government on Monday called on “all parties” not to jeopardize discussions on a possible truce in the Gaza Strip which are coming up against the inflexibility of Israel and Hamas. “The negotiations must not be put in danger and all parties must make maximum efforts to achieve a situation where the inhabitants of Gaza can be supplied with humanitarian goods as best as possible and the hostages can be released.” , said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer.