Representatives from Hamas, Qatar and the United States are in Cairo on Sunday, March 3, to begin “a new round of negotiations” toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to pro-government Egyptian media Al-Qahera. On Friday, American President Joe Biden reiterated his “hope” for a ceasefire until Ramadan, the holy month of Muslim fasting, which will begin on March 10 or 11.
In the Egyptian capital, a Hamas delegation must give an “official response” to a proposal drawn up at the end of January by the mediating countries – Qatar, USA, Egypt – and Israeli negotiators, according to a source close to the Islamist movement. Palestinians.
The proposal calls for a six-week pause in fighting and the release of 42 hostages held in Gaza in a “first phase” in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. The Israelis have “more or less accepted” the plan and “the ball is in Hamas's court,” a senior American official in Washington assured Saturday. Israel has not confirmed this information.
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Benjamin Netanyahu is also confronted by relatives of the hostages who are urging him to reach an agreement with Hamas for their release. On Saturday, thousands of protesters in Jerusalem ended a four-day march that began near the Gaza border. “We want them to return home, we want them to be alive,” one protester told Agence France-Presse (AFP). We don't want to wait any longer. »
Famine “almost inevitable”
Mediating countries have been trying for weeks to reach a ceasefire in the war that has killed 30,410 Palestinians since October 7, according to the latest report from the Hamas-run health ministry released on Sunday. In a press release, he also reported 90 deaths in the last 24 hours and a total of 71,700 injured in Palestinian territory since the start of the war. On the Israeli side, at least 1,160 people died in the October 7 attack, most of them civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on official Israeli data.
According to an AFP correspondent in Gaza, several airstrikes targeted the southern towns of Khan Younes and Rafah on Saturday night and Sunday.
In almost five months, the war has also caused a humanitarian catastrophe. According to the UN, 2.2 million of the 2.4 million population are at risk of “almost inevitable” famine, according to Jens Laerke, spokesman for OCHA, the United Nations' coordinating body for humanitarian affairs. Hamas' health ministry reported that 16 children had died in recent days from “malnutrition and dehydration.”
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