Palestinian Hamas is preparing, this Tuesday, April 30, its response to an offer of a truce lasting several weeks in the Gaza Strip associated with the release of Israeli hostages, at the end of discussions which offer a glimmer of hope after almost seven months of war. After Riyadh, Antony Blinken is expected in Israel on Tuesday, as part of this new tour of the Middle East intended to promote a new truce in the besieged Palestinian territory plunged into a major humanitarian crisis.
Information to remember
⇒ Hamas prepares its response to a truce offer in Gaza
⇒ The United States hopes for a positive outcome
⇒ Gaza: Washington does not want an international criminal investigation
Hamas prepares its response
After a meeting Monday in Cairo with representatives of Egypt and Qatar, mediator countries with the United States, a Hamas delegation left the Egyptian capital for Doha to study a new truce offer, the AFP a source close to the Islamist movement.
A response will come “as quickly as possible”, added this source, while the al-Qahera News site, close to Egyptian intelligence, underlines that the Hamas delegation “will return with a written response to the truce proposal”.
The United States hopes for a positive outcome
In the process, American President Joe Biden, faced in his country with a pro-Palestinian movement on numerous campuses, asked the leaders of Qatar and Egypt to “do everything possible” to obtain from Hamas the release of hostages “because this is the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire”.
Traveling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken said he “hoped” for a favorable response from Hamas to an “extraordinarily generous” proposal from Israel. Antony Blinken also reiterated Washington’s opposition to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that has become a huge displaced camp sheltering more than a million and a half Palestinians in catastrophic health conditions.
The contours of a truce still blurred
It includes a “40-day ceasefire” as well as the “release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of these hostages,” said the head of British diplomacy David Cameron, present in the Saudi capital. Egypt said Monday it was “hopeful” about a truce. However, Zaher Jabareen, one of the Hamas negotiators, told AFP that it was “too early to speak of a positive atmosphere in the negotiations.”
Above all, Hamas demands “a permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, a hypothesis that Israel has always refused, an Israeli “withdrawal” from Gaza and a clear timetable for the start of reconstruction, he said. According to media reports, the Israeli war cabinet initially demanded the release of 40 hostages held in Gaza, before authorizing negotiators to lower this number.
The American news site Axios indicated that Israel was demanding at least the release of women, civilians or soldiers, and men over 50 or in poor health.
Gaza: the White House does not want an international criminal investigation
Senior Israeli officials are concerned, according to various local media, about possible arrest warrants issued against them by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the war in Gaza. According to the Axios site, Benjamin Netanyahu asked Joe Biden on Sunday, during a telephone interview, to help him prevent arrest warrants, which could target him as well as his Minister of Defense and the head of state. -major.
The United States is “not in favor” of a criminal investigation against Israeli officials over the conflict in Gaza, the White House spokeswoman said Monday. “We believe that (the International Criminal Court) is not competent” in the matter, added Karine Jean-Pierre. “We have always been clear regarding the investigation” carried out by the Hague institution, underlined the spokesperson about this Court.
5 Israeli units committed abuses in the West Bank
The United States has determined that five Israeli security units committed abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank before the Hamas attack in October, with four of them taking “remedial measures” removing the prospect of US sanctions, a the State Department said Monday.
Consultations are continuing with the Israeli government regarding a fifth Israeli unit in question, said deputy spokesperson for the State Department, Vedant Patel.
Relatives of the two hostages demand their immediate release
Relatives of two Israeli hostages, who appeared on Saturday in a video released by Hamas, called on Monday for their immediate release, as hopes of a truce are reborn in the Gaza Strip.
“We know a deal is possible. Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States, we have confidence in you and we urge you to do everything in your power to bring our loved ones home now!” Elan Siegel, daughter of Keith Siegel, said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on “Hostage Square”.