Hamas has offered a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators and the U.S. that features the discharge of Israeli hostages in alternate for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences.
As per Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace on Thursday, a brand new Gaza truce proposal offered by Hamas to mediators was nonetheless primarily based on “unrealistic calls for“. Netanyahu has rejected the newest truce and prisoner-exchange proposal and as a substitute, has accepted an Israeli navy plan to launch an operation within the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah on Friday.
“The IDF is ready for the operation and to evacuate the (civilian) inhabitants,” Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Earlier within the day, Hamas introduced on social media that it had offered its imaginative and prescient of a prisoner swap with Israel to Qatari and Egyptian mediators and was wanting in the direction of a ceasefire settlement that will contain the withdrawal of invading Israeli forces from Gaza.
In line with Reuters, the Palestinian group proposed the discharge of Israeli ladies, together with feminine troopers, kids, the aged, and unwell hostages, in alternate for Israel releasing between 700 and 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. As soon as the prisoner alternate is full, Hamas mentioned it will be prepared to barter a date for a everlasting ceasefire.
Continued Battle and Humanitarian Disaster
On Thursday, Netanyahu additionally reiterated Israel’s willpower to finish its mission of “eliminating” Hamas. With that, Israel’s choice to proceed with a floor incursion into Rafah comes after repeated warnings from the worldwide group, together with the US and Egypt, to not enter the town the place some 1.5 million displaced Palestinian refugees are sheltering.
In line with Gaza’s Ministry of Well being, 31,490 Palestinians have been killed, and 73,439 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza beginning on October 7. Furthermore, at the least 7,000 individuals are unaccounted for, presumed lifeless below the rubble of their houses all through the Strip. Palestinian and worldwide organizations say that almost all of these killed and wounded are ladies and kids.
The struggle has additionally resulted within the forceful displacement of practically two million individuals from everywhere in the Gaza Strip, with the overwhelming majority of the displaced pressured into the densely crowded southern metropolis of Rafah close to the border with Egypt.
