Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog indicated his country's willingness to agree to another ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in order to free hostages held by the radical Islamic group Hamas and bring more aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli president plays a largely ceremonial role in Israel. Hamas rejects talks on a prisoner exchange during Israel's war, but has said it is open to any initiative to end the conflict. According to information from the UN, another 180 trucks carrying aid supplies recently arrived in the Gaza Strip.
Talk about “humanitarian pause”
Qatar said there were “diplomatic efforts underway to renew a humanitarian pause” in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is “willing to exchange prisoners, but only after a ceasefire,” said one of the Qatari negotiators.
Fighting in the southern Gaza Strip continues unabated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a hospital in the north no longer works after being invaded by Israeli soldiers.
Voting in the UN Security Council
A vote on a resolution on the war in Gaza is scheduled for today at the UN Security Council in New York. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the UN Security Council has repeatedly tried to pass a joint resolution. Several draft texts failed – two of them due to a US veto. The US government left it open whether it would agree to the latest draft resolution.