The Israeli-Hamas War in Gaza is Preferable for a Permanent Truncation, and the Palestinians are Strongly Concerned
Palestinian leaders will meet in Egypt to discuss the revised proposal after Egyptian officials gave them it late Tuesday, a Palestinian official said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad support the outlines of the proposal, the Egyptian source close to the talks said.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, the Israeli military has killed at least 21,700 Palestinians since Hamas launched its attacks on southern Israel.
An Israeli official said that Israel’s war cabinet discussed the initial Egyptian proposal late Monday, after it had been publicly reported on by several news organizations, adding to the public pressure Israel faces to wind down the current phase of the war due to the high civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
In the first 10 days, there would be a complete cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. Israel and Hamas would agree upon the number of Palestinian prisoners that would be released. Israeli forces would leave the residential areas in Gaza so that citizens from south to north could movement vehicles and trucks. It would also allow freedom of entry for humanitarian aid, including medicines, medical supplies, fuel and food to all areas of Gaza.
Israel is not certain if it will negotiate based on this proposal. Previous negotiations have been led by Qatar, which helped broker a week-long cease-fire in late November that led to the exchange of 105 hostages held by Hamas for some 240 Palestinians in Israeli jails.
The part of the plan that was dropped was expected to be a major part of any agreement between Egypt and the Palestinians.
Hamas said in a statement that it had received initiatives and proposals from different countries for a permanent truce.
The militant group said that the people don’t want to wait for a truce that the occupation violates with massacres and war crimes.
A UNRWA spokeswoman in Gaza: Israel’s assault on civilians during the first day of the Gazan War and warnings to move for safety
The latest diplomatic efforts came as the Palestinians recover from a communications crisis. The primary provider in the area said that the internet and cell phone service was out for an extended period. On Tuesday night, the telecommunications company PalTel announced that damaged infrastructure had resulted in service interruption.
There is a public health disaster in the making because the Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza has decimated the infrastructure and left millions hungry and exposed to the elements.
Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency, said on Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was becoming more dire by the moment.
“Now, with the rainy season, it’s everything from warm clothes to blankets. “The most urgent thing is food and water and it’s more important than any else,” Touma said.
“They threatened the entire block around us, even the new camp, even the market street — all of it they threatened,” she said. “They dropped leaflets ordering us to leave within three days. So we had to come here.”
At the Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a mother of five said that she and 20 members of her extended family had arrived there the previous day. Since the beginning of the war, the family, including a baby, have been forced to flee.
But Israel has routinely used 2,000-pound bombs — one of the biggest and most destructive supplied by the United States — in densely populated areas in southern Gaza where civilians were told to move for safety, according to an analysis of the visual evidence by The New York Times.
The Israeli military this week ordered more than 150,000 people to leave parts of central Gaza. “The area you are in is considered an area of deadly fighting,” warned leaflets that were dropped over homes, shelters and encampments.
“God willing this will be the last time we are displaced,” said Mr. Hassan, 22, a taxi driver. He said that the family lost everything when they fled.
Israel asked people to move to shelters that can only hold a few hundred thousand people.
Israel has said it is addressing the humanitarian concerns, including those voiced by the United States. The maps published for Gaza were in order to preserve your security and safety, according to a military spokesman.
In the Nuseirat area, tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee because of Israel’s air and ground offensive, so they found a shelter in a tent.
There were many family members killed when their home in the town of Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip was attacked by Israeli aircraft a few weeks ago.