Negotiations continue in Gaza.
Joe Biden announced Monday that an agreement to release hostages held by Hamas, accompanied by a pause of “at least six weeks” in hostilities with Israel, was currently under discussion.
The American president, repeating the warning already issued several times by his administration, also indicated that it “must protect” Palestinian civilians in Rafah in the event of an Israeli offensive on this town in the south of the enclave.
“We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah.
This would undoubtedly cause another humanitarian catastrophe,” also said the King of Jordan Abdullah II, during a joint speech with Joe Biden at the White House.
A proposal sent to Hamas
A ceasefire proposal was sent to Hamas at the end of January, which said it was “examining” it.
Developed during a meeting organized in Paris between American, Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian representatives, this proposal provided, according to a source in the Palestinian Islamist movement, for a six-week truce allowing the exchange of around 40 Israeli hostages for five to six times more. Palestinian prisoners.
The hope of an agreement, however, faded after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army last Wednesday to “prepare” the offensive on Rafah near the Egyptian border, where Palestinians displaced by the war.
Around 250 people were kidnapped in Israel on October 7 and taken to Gaza.
A week-long truce in November allowed the release of 105 of them in exchange for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
Before the release of the last two hostages in Rafah on Sunday, Israel estimated that 132 were still detained in Gaza, of whom 29 were believed to have died.