Hamas claimed on Friday the Palestinian group had rejected new terms in a Gaza ceasefire plan outlined during recent talks in Qatar.
Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators sought to finalise the details of the framework originally outlined by Biden in May, which Israel, he said, had proposed. The joint statement said the countries submitted to both sides the proposal, which would complete various points and continue to work in the coming days to clarify the specifics of humanitarian provisions and hostage and hostage exchanges.
Hamas objected to the terms of keeping Israeli troops on the Gaza border with Egypt and the conditions related to the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages. In addition, the terms include keeping Israeli troops inside Gaza along the territory’s border with Egypt, Israeli veto power over Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for Israeli hostages, and the possibility of deporting some prisoners rather than sending them back to Gaza.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his French counterpart Stephane Séjourn held talks in Israel on Friday to push for the deal. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his invited counterparts he expected foreign support if Iran sought to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. French Foreign Minister said it is inappropriate to discuss a response to any attack while diplomacy to stop it is in high gear. A senior US official, in turn, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said Iran would face “cataclysmic” consequences if it struck Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called on mediators to pressure Hamas to accept US President Joe Biden’s 27 May agreement as threats from Iran and its proxies grow.
First case of polio in 25 years
The truce talks come as the toll of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign approached 40,000 on Thursday, most of them women and children, Euractiv reported. On top of that, the war has destroyed the health infrastructure of the besieged territory, prompting repeated warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the risk of preventable disease.
The Palestinian health ministry said yesterday that an unvaccinated 10-month-old baby in Gaza had contracted polio, the first case in the territory in 25 years, according to the WHO. The announcement came hours after UN chief Antonio Guterres called for two seven-day pauses in the Gaza war to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against poliovirus type 2, which first showed up in the territory’s sewage in June.
The attack by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank late Thursday night sparked international condemnation and calls for sanctions, including against government ministers, due to a surge in settler violence against Palestinians since the start of the Gaza war.
In addition, thousands of civilians were moving back into Palestinian territory after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders ahead of imminent hostilities. The UN estimates the orders affect more than 170,000 people, forcing them to pack into the shrinking remnants of an area declared a humanitarian safe zone. According to the UN, the area where people have been told to move makes up just 11 per cent of Gaza.
