Gaza truce efforts are intensifying, Hamas will respond on Monday

A senior Hamas official announced that a delegation from the movement will give its response Monday in Cairo to a proposed Israeli truce linked to the release of hostages, nearly seven months after the start of the war, sparked by a bloody attack on the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel on October 7.

Hamas announced on Saturday that it was “studying” this counter-proposal, specifying that it would “submit its response after the study is completed.”

Meanwhile, the war knows no respite in the small besieged territory where Hamas seized power in 2007. The Israeli military said on Sunday it had hit “dozens of terrorist targets” in central Gaza.

He also claims that he is preparing a ground offensive in Rafah, where there are one and a half million Palestinians, mostly displaced. Many capitals and humanitarian organizations fear bloodshed in this city, which is already regularly bombed by the army.

From Saudi Arabia, where a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is being held since Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United States to prevent a ground invasion of Rafah. If it were to happen, the operation would be “the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected in Saudi Arabia, where he will specifically discuss “ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that allows for the release of the hostages,” according to the State Department.

In Beirut, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will discuss ways to avoid prolonging the conflict with Lebanese officials on Sunday.

Since the beginning of the war, there has been a daily exchange of fire on Israel’s northern border between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah.

These diplomatic negotiations are taking place while awaiting Hamas’s response to the Israeli counterproposal.

The details of this proposal have not been filtered, but according to the website Axios, which cites Israeli officials, it includes a desire to discuss “the establishment of lasting peace” in Gaza.

Meanwhile, internal pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continues to mount. On Saturday evening, thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7.

That day, Hamas commandos launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures. More than 250 people were abducted and 129 remain trapped in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.

In retaliation, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, as well as the United States and the European Union. Its offensive on Gaza has killed 34,454 people, mostly civilians, according to a new report from Hamas’ health ministry on Sunday.

“Deal, now!” protesters chanted on Saturday night, calling on Netanyahu’s government to resign. Not long before, Hamas released a video showing two hostages, Keith Siegel (64) and Omri Miran (47). This is the second video released by Hamas in several days.

At a rally in Tel Aviv, Miran’s father called on Hamas to “show humanity”, also asking it to “decide now”.

There was no lull on the field. The Israeli navy fired on Hamas targets throughout Saturday and provided support to troops deployed in the center of the territory, the army said on Sunday.

According to an AFP correspondent, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes and artillery fire in several areas of the Gaza Strip, especially in Khan Younes and Rafah, two cities in the south of the territory, as well as in Gaza City (north).

According to Hamas, a total of 66 Palestinians died in 24 hours.

“We are tired after seven months of displacement and fighting in the camps, so we insisted on returning and staying in a tent on the ruins of our house,” Abdelqader Mohammed Qwaider told AFPTV.

In addition to the destruction and large human casualties, the war also caused a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territory, where 2.4 million people live. Under Israel’s tight control, humanitarian aid comes in trickles.

A British ship left Cyprus on Saturday to house hundreds of US military personnel who are building an artificial jetty in Gaza to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In the process, Cyprus announced that a ship loaded with aid, which returned from Gaza in early April after an Israeli attack killed seven aid workers, was heading back to the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that 25,000 humanitarian aid trucks had entered Gaza since October 7. The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) puts the figure at 23,000 trucks.