US President Joe Biden has announced that Israel has proposed a road map for a ceasefire in the war against Hamas, including a six-week withdrawal from populated areas of Gaza and the release of hostages.
In a speech from the White House, US President Joe Biden called on the Palestinian Islamic Movement to accept the plan, which was submitted to Hamas through a Qatari mediator.
“We can’t let it go“This prospect of a deal in Gaza launches Mr. Biden into the eighth month of a devastating war in the besieged Gaza Strip and threatened by famine, according to the UN.”It is time for this war to end“Initially, Mr. Biden said, there would be a withdrawal of Israeli troops and a complete cease-fire.Populated Areas of Gaza“, for a period of six weeks.
According to him, the end of the fighting will be accompanied by the release of some Israeli hostages, especially women and the sick, as well as Palestinian prisoners. This temporary ceasefire”Permanent“If Hamas”honors its obligations“, Joe Biden added. The next phase of the plan includes the release of all the hostages in Gaza after they were kidnapped during the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7.
“Non-negotiable”
Earlier on Friday, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh said his movement had returned to mediators.requirements“Above all a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip”Cannot be negotiated“Joe Biden’s announcement comes as Israeli forces advance into the heart of the town of Rafah, which has become the epicenter of the conflict, despite objections from the international community, which says it fears civilians.
Israel has swornto destroy“Hamas has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, after an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement’s commandos that infiltrated from Gaza, south of Israel, on October 7.
The attack killed more than 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. And of the 252 hostages taken, 121 are still being held in Gaza, of whom 37 have died, the military said.
In response, the military laid siege to the Gaza Strip, launching air, land and sea bombings, followed by a ground offensive on October 27 that has so far killed 36,284 people, most of them civilians, including the last 60. 24 hours, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Army in center of Rafah
Israeli military operations have destroyed many neighborhoods, displaced the majority of Gaza’s approximately 2.4 million residents, and caused a major humanitarian catastrophe. On Friday, witnesses reported Israeli attacks on Rafah in southern Gaza, where about a million Palestinians have fled since Israeli tanks entered the city’s east on May 7.
The army confirmed the presence of its forces in central Rafah.Commandos“found it there”Rocket launchers“and”Mines“Hamas’s.
On Wednesday, they took control of an area of roughly 14 kilometers east to west in Rafah, along the Egyptian border, through which Hamas “Continued arms smuggling into Gaza“According to the army. Despite waves of international outrage over Sunday’s shelling of a refugee camp in Rafah, which killed 45 people, including children, according to Hamas, the army continued its offensive in this densely populated city. It announced its intention to eliminate the last battalions of the Palestinian movement.
Later in the afternoon, Hamas posted a video on Telegram, a recording of a woman’s voice that was presented as the voice of one of the people captured on October 7. The record could not be approved immediately. The Israeli army, for its part, announced the death of two soldiers, bringing its total number of soldiers killed since October 27 to 294.
“Moved a million times”
On the humanitarian level, Cairo and Israel blame each other for blocking the flow of aid through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which has been closed since the Israeli army took control of it on the Palestinian side on May 7. The Rafah crossing is important for humanitarian aid to enter, as aid comes through the Israeli Erez crossing.
Many Palestinians continued to leave Rafah, carrying their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey carts. The Palestinians asked the Israeli army to vacate the areas of Beit Hanoun (north), where they want to operate after Hamas fired rockets at Israel.
“We’ve been moved a million times and now we don’t know where to go“, said Ziad Hamad, a resident of Beit Hanoun. Further north, the Jabaliya camp was turned into a field of rubble.”There is no life here“, denounces Rayt al-Masri, a displaced Palestinian like Jamil al-Masri who claimed to have returned.”to ashes“.
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