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Gaza still being blitzed. Rafah attack threatened as new Ceasefire reportedly imminent.. 2 Feb 2024 -22.00 GMT
Hundreds of thousands of now homeless and trapped Palestinians now face the Israeli Genocide War machine as it approaches the Rafah border 2/2/24
Qatari negotiators are awaiting a final response from Hamas officials, who have seemingly welcomed part of the plan. Netanyahu continues to declare there is no possible deal. Israel tries to force acceptance by preparing a mass attack on Rafah border area.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering in Rafah, mainly cold and hungry in makeshift tents and public buildings.
Hamas says it’s studying Gaza cease-fire proposal, but appears to rule out some key provisions .. The plan moves in 3 stages and does not include the key Palestinian demand of a permanent ceasefire.
- Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the group remains committed to its initial demands for a permanent cease-fire. Hamdan also said the group seeks the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held for acts related to the conflict with Israel, including those serving life sentences. He mentioned two by name, including Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian uprising leader seen as a unifying figure.Video Duration 01 minutes 43 seconds
Bodies of ‘torture victims’ found at Gaza schoolThe killing of dozens of people whose bodies were found at a Gaza school was a clear war crime, according to a Palestinian human rights lawyer who spoke to Al Jazeera.
The ceasefire plan was hashed out in Paris over the weekend, with Qatari and Egyptian diplomats mediating between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. Delegations from West Jerusalem and Gaza left the French capital promising to study the proposal and negotiate further this week, and by Thursday evening, a deal was apparently within reach.
Women march for a deal to release Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, February 1, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“Israel agreed to the ceasefire proposal and we have initial positive confirmation from Hamas,” a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Thursday evening, according to Al Jazeera. “We are awaiting their response,” the spokesman added.
The proposed ceasefire would be implemented in three stages, according to a Hamas statement shared with Reuters earlier this week. The first phase would see fighting stop for 40 days as Hamas hands over the female civilians, children, and elderly people it is still holding captive. During this time, large-scale deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza would resume.
Israel’s war on Gaza live: 11,500 children killed in enclave so far. UNICEF says about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict. by Federica Marsi
The following stages would see Hamas turn over captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies of Israeli troops, in exchange for further aid deliveries and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
“Military operations on both sides will stop during the three stages,” the militants said, adding that the number of Palestinian prisoners freed would be open to negotiation.
The proposal falls short of the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza that Hamas initially demanded. As a step toward ending the war, however, it also threatens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to keep fighting until Israel achieves “total victory” over the militants, as he has promised on multiple occasions.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has reported that Israel’s siege of the al-Amal Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis has continued for an 11th day.
While hardliners within Netanyahu’s cabinet have pressed him to reject any deal they view as too lenient towards Hamas, Israel has faced international condemnation over its conduct in Gaza, and two of the Jewish state’s most stalwart backers – the US and UK – suggested this week that they could soon recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli forces must withdraw fast
Such an outcome would be a political disaster for Netanyahu, who angered Washington and London last month when he outright rejected a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.
Israeli forces pound Gaza amid Hamas studies ceasefire proposal 1 day ago
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11,500 Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza
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2 opiniones en “Israel pushes ceasefire deal while threatening Rafah attack- Hamas positive but demands permanent Ceasefire-”