An official close to Hamas recalled that the organization was still
“open”
to negotiations for a ceasefire with Israel.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses any truce.
Argentine President Javier Milei visited a grieving kibbutz following the October 7 attack.
Le Figaro
takes stock of the situation.
Hamas still
“open”
to a ceasefire in Gaza
Hamas is still
“open”
to negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza despite the rejection of its latest proposals by Israel, an official close to the Palestinian Islamist movement said on Thursday, before the start of talks in Egypt.
This new round of negotiations between Hamas and the Israelis, with the mediation of Egypt and Qatar, was to open in the morning in Cairo, this official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
These indirect discussions aim to obtain a truce in the fighting in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and Israeli hostages, for the second time after the one-week truce which allowed the release of 105 at the end of November. hostages in Gaza and 240 Palestinians.
“The Hamas delegation will meet this morning with Egyptian officials, then a delegation from Qatar will join the meetings, and Qataris and Egyptians will try to bring together the points of view of the two parties (Israeli and Hamas)”
via several rounds of negotiations , explained the official close to Hamas.
“We expect very complicated and difficult negotiations, but Hamas is open to discussions and eager to achieve a ceasefire
,” he assured.
Netanyahu still refuses a truce
On Wednesday evening, hours after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is pleading for a new truce, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to reject any concessions in the negotiations.
He ordered his army to
“prepare”
the offensive on Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are massed.
The offensive on Rafah has begun
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, witnesses and hospital sources reported deadly strikes in the south of the Gaza Strip, notably in Rafah, with the Hamas Ministry of Health counting a total of 130 deaths over the last 24 hours.
According to an AFP journalist, the Israeli army carried out seven airstrikes in Rafah.
The house of a local police chief was notably hit according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“These bombings are proof that Rafah is not a safe place
,” says Oum Hassan, 48, whose nearby house was also hit by the strike.
“Our world has been reduced to ashes
,” says Abou Aymane, a 46-year-old man who also lives nearby.
An agreement still possible according to Blinken
On the eve of his departure, Antony Blinken estimated Wednesday evening that there remained
“room for an agreement”
despite the declarations of Benjamin Netanyahu, and called on the Israelis to show measure, in actions as well as in speeches.
According to the official close to Hamas, the discussions in Cairo will focus on a ceasefire which could last
"around six weeks"
, a first phase where the two parties could discuss an exchange between hostages held in Gaza and women and Palestinian children detained in prisons in Israel.
This ceasefire, which could be renewed, could make it possible to initiate discussions with a view to an agreement providing for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and a return of the displaced, he added.
“Hamas will insist that Turkey and Russia stand with Egypt, Qatar, the United States and France to ensure that all points of the agreement are respected, including a cease-fire “permanent fire and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip
,” he stressed.
In a kibbutz attacked by Hamas, Milei denounces “21st century Nazism”
The Argentine President, Javier Milei, visited this Thursday with his Israeli counterpart to a kibbutz in the south, close to Gaza, and hard hit by the Hamas attack, where he denounced
“the Nazism of the 21st century”
.
Kibbutz Nir Oz was the scene of one of the bloodiest attacks carried out by the commandos of the Islamist movement on October 7: a quarter of its approximately 400 inhabitants were either killed or kidnapped after hours of shooting and violence.
“The free world cannot remain indifferent. “It is a clearly terrorist, anti-Semitic act and I would say, 21st century Nazism
,” declared the ultra-liberal Argentine president in front of journalists after a visit to the agricultural community, 60% of whose houses were burned. on October 7.
The visit to the kibbutz
“touched me deep in the soul
,” he added, in front of a completely charred house.
“Seeing all this with your own eyes is a very, very powerful experience.
And this visit only validates the fact that I came (to Israel) to condemn the Hamas terrorists, to support Israel's legitimate right to defend itself, and to demand the release of all the hostages
,” he said. .
Kibbutz Nir Oz had 18 people of Argentinian origin, 12 of whom were kidnapped.
One of them, Ofelia Roitman, 77, released during the truce week at the end of November, accompanied the Argentine president on his visit, his first return to the kibbutz since the attack.