Negotiators started arriving in Cairo on Saturday for renewed negotiations for a cease-fire and the discharge of hostages because the conflict in Gaza reaches the six-month mark.
U.S. CIA Director Invoice Burns arrived Saturday. Qatari Overseas Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and an Israeli delegation have been anticipated to participate within the talks as nicely, Egypt’s Al Qahera information reported Saturday.
Hamas mentioned in an announcement that it’s sending its deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya. It additionally reiterated its core calls for: an entire cease-fire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
U.S. President Joe Biden wrote letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on the state of the hostage talks, and ‘he urged them to safe commitments from Hamas to agree and abide by a deal,’ White Home nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby mentioned.
Biden additionally instructed Netanyahu to empower his negotiators in Cairo so {that a} deal will be reached as quickly as potential, permitting extra humanitarian support to get into Gaza.
Lethal, damaging conflict
The Israel-Hamas conflict is taken into account one of the crucial damaging, lethal, and relentless conflicts of the twenty first century.
‘Six months on, the conflict in Gaza is a betrayal of humanity,’ mentioned Martin Griffiths, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency reduction coordinator on the United Nations.
In an announcement Saturday, Griffiths acknowledged the ache and struggling of each Palestinians and Israelis since Hamas staged its October 7 terror assault on southern Israel that killed 1,200 folks and claimed greater than 240 hostages.
‘For the folks of Gaza, the previous six months of conflict have introduced loss of life, devastation and now the fast prospect of a shameful artifical famine,’ Griffiths mentioned, noting that for the folks affected by the lasting horror of the Hamas assaults, ‘it has been six months of grief and torment.’
In his plea for a cease-fire, Griffiths mentioned that ‘each second counts’ because the conflict claims extra civilian victims and ‘continues to sow the seeds of a future so deeply obscured by this relentless battle.’ Griffiths mentioned any additional escalation of the conflict in Gaza is an ‘unconscionable prospect.’
FILE – Palestinians pray over the our bodies of individuals killed in an Israeli bombardment earlier than burying them in a mass grave in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 22, 2023.
Greater than 33,000 lifeless
Since October 7, Israel has pummeled the enclave, killing 33,137 folks, together with greater than 13,000 youngsters, in response to the Gaza Well being Ministry, the U.N.’s Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and The Related Press.
Gaza’s well being ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its rely, but it surely says ladies and youngsters have made up about two-thirds of these killed.
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Famine on horizon
Seventy p.c of the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza has been displaced inside the enclave, and about half of the inhabitants is clustered into Gaza’s southernmost metropolis, Rafah.
With humanitarian support barely trickling into Gaza, meals is scarce. Based on the U.N., famine is approaching, and few Palestinians have been in a position to go away the besieged territory. Thirty-one p.c of youngsters youthful than 2 are acutely malnourished in northern Gaza.
FILE – Palestinians search meals at Jabaliya refugee camp within the Gaza Strip, March 18, 2024.
In the meantime, Hamas nonetheless refuses to free the estimated 100 hostages it and its allies maintain.
As of February 14, 112 hostages have been returned alive to Israel, with 105 being launched in a prisoner alternate deal – 4 launched by Hamas unilaterally and three rescued by the Israel Protection Forces. The IDF confirmed that 36 hostages have died in Hamas captivity.
Some info for this report was supplied by Reuters, The Related Press and Agence France-Presse.
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