While Hamas reflects on ceasefire proposals supported by the United States, here is what is at stake for Gaza and Israel
Tensions remained high on Saturday when Hamas considered a ceasefire proposal to stop the United States which could end the fighting in Gaza, which increased after Israel launched a major military operation in the enclave earlier this month.
President Donald Trump told journalists on the oval office on Friday that the agreement that would cause hostilities for 60 days, allowed the progressive release of hostages and paved the way for more humanitarian aid to rush into the devastated enclave, was “very close”.
The White House confirmed Thursday that Israel had accepted the proposals, although the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not do it. Answer a comment request.
Hamas has also responded coldly. Jihad Taha, spokesperson for the militant group, told Al Jazeera on Friday evening that the proposals lacked “any immediate commitment to arrest the war”, a request from Key Hamas. But he said that the leaders of Hamas were “seriously” discussed proposals.
NBC News examines what is at stake:
What does the agreement understand?
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, shared a framework for the agreement with NBC News, who calls for an immediate stop of 60 days, during which Hamas would release 33 Israeli captives in exchange for “a certain number of Palestinian prisoners”. In return, Israel “would stop all military operations” in Gaza as soon as the truce takes effect, and civilians would be authorized to return home through the enclave.
Under the terms of the framework, the Israeli forces would withdraw into two phases – first densely populated areas, then urban centers – with a total withdrawal to be made by the end of the ceasefire period.
During the truce, it is said: “Negotiations will continue to reach an agreement on the release of Israeli soldiers in exchange for a certain number of Palestinian prisoners.”
The agreement would also allow the entry of 600 trucks per day carrying humanitarian aid, including fuel, cooking gas and medical supplies.
Among the other proposals, there are that all the border passages between Gaza and Israel, and Gaza and Egypt, will also be reopened under international supervision, and patients and students will be allowed to travel abroad.
Will this lead to the end of the war?
While Hamas has not yet rejected the agreement, the differences that have derailed the previous ceasefire efforts seem to remain.
The latest proposals set the foundations for a temporary break in the fighting, but offer no guarantee of a permanent end of war.
Hamas has reported the opening to talks, but insists that any sustainable agreement must include a complete cessation of hostilities and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel, meanwhile, demanded that Hamas disarm, dismantled its military and governing infrastructure, and returns the remaining 58 hostages before agreeing to end the war. Hamas rejected these terms.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the terrorist attacks led by Hamas, in which around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages, marking a major climbing in a decade conflict.
Since then, more than 54,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Enclave, led by Hamas since 2007.
The “most confronted place on earth”
More than 4,000 people have been killed in the strip since Israel broke its ceasefire with Hamas in early March and imposed a blockade preventing food, fuel and medical supplies from entering Gaza. The country's army launched a new major operation nicknamed “Gideon's Chariot”, which started earlier this month.
The latest proposals to end the fighting come as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called Gaza “the most confronted place on the earth”, while Israeli continues to leave only a net of aid in the enclave after an 11 -week blocking which interrupted the entry of food and medicine into the enclave.
“The help operation we have ready to ride is being operated operational,” the OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said on Friday. Accusing Israel of “food food” in the region, and said that help trucks were surrounded “by desperate people who want to feed their family”.
“I do not blame them for help which is essentially theirs, but it is not distributed in the way we wanted,” he added.
Has help in Gaza?
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the United States and Israel began its operations this week after Israel has lifted its blockade, despite criticism of humanitarian groups who warned that they had undermined a long-standing humanitarian framework in Gaza and risked compromising the independence of aid operations.
They also expressed a significant concern with regard to a plan set out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see the aid distributed on sites in the south of Gaza, effectively moving the Palestinians there.
In an update on Saturday, GHF said that he had distributed 30 food trucks “offering approximately 1,663,200 meals”. He added that the “distribution of Saturday meals was the The biggest to date and five times more than yesterday. »»
