As of: February 14, 2024, 8:47 p.m
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A Palestinian artist paints with charcoal the walls of a school where she has been relocated in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
© Mohammed Talatene/dpa
Negotiations about a ceasefire and further hostage releases are stalling.
Many voices are warning of a military offensive in Rafah.
Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip and on the border with Lebanon.
The overview.
Tel Aviv/Cairo - Israel and the Islamist Hamas blame each other for the lack of progress in negotiations over a new ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of more hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “No new proposal from Hamas for the release of our hostages was submitted in Cairo.” Israel will not give in to the “delusional demands” of the Islamist organization.
“A change in Hamas’ positions will allow progress in the negotiations.”
However, Hamas circles said that it was Israel that was not moving forward with the negotiations.
A Hamas delegation is in Cairo.
Egyptian media had reported that the tenor of the talks was “positive”.
According to information from the New York Times, talks between officials at lower levels will continue.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu refused to send a delegation to Cairo on Thursday.
This makes no sense as long as Hamas demands the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in return for the hostages.
Relatives of hostages criticized this sharply and spoke of a “death sentence”.
A delegation led by the head of the Mossad secret service, David Barnea, had previously left Cairo.
Accompanied by the head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, Ronen Bar, Barnea met with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and CIA intelligence chief William Burns.
Report: Abbas calls on Hamas to quickly deal with hostages
According to a media report, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to quickly conclude a hostage agreement with the Israeli government.
The Islamist organization should agree to such a deal to protect the Palestinian people and prevent an Israeli attack on the city of Rafah, Abbas said, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The president of the Palestinian Authority continued to say that people must be spared another catastrophe.
An attack on Rafah would result in thousands of casualties, suffering and displacement.
A military offensive in Rafah, which lies in the very south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt, is considered highly problematic.
The town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to 1.3 million people.
Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, some on orders from the Israeli military.
Red Cross: Countless lives are at stake
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), like many organizations and governments, warned of the consequences of an Israeli military offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“We renew our call on the parties to the conflict and all those who have influence on them to spare and protect the lives of civilians and infrastructure,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director for the Middle East.
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“Under international humanitarian law, the parties to the conflict must ensure that the civilian population is provided with the necessities of life and that the necessary protective measures are taken to preserve their lives.
There is an urgent need to do more now.
Countless lives are at stake,” said Carboni.
Hamas Health Authority: 103 Palestinians killed in Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 103 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip within 24 hours.
At the same time, another 145 people were injured, the authorities said.
Since the war began on October 7th, a total of 28,576 residents of the coastal strip have been killed and 68,291 injured.
The numbers cannot currently be independently verified.
Particularly fierce fighting has been raging in the south of the Gaza Strip for weeks.
Israel suspects the leadership of the Islamist Hamas in an underground tunnel network.
It is also assumed that hostages are being held there.
Deaths after shelling on the Israeli-Lebanese border
Mutual shelling on the border between Israel and Lebanon resulted in fatalities on both sides.
A woman and her two children were killed in Israeli attacks on the town of Souaneh in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Civil Defense said.
A 20-year-old female soldier was previously killed when a rocket hit a military base in Safed in northern Israel.
Eight other people were injured.
The Israeli Air Force then said it carried out “a series of attacks” on targets in Lebanon in the afternoon.
Warplanes had launched an extensive wave of attacks on Lebanese territory, it said.
Demonstrators gather in Jerusalem to protest Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to withdraw Israeli representatives from negotiations in Cairo.
© Leo Correa/AP/dpa
Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television reported that the attacks also killed one person in the southern town of Adchit.
Lebanese security sources said that at least seven people were injured in Adchit.
The areas around Shehabijeh and Souaneh are also said to have been hit.
They are considered Hezbollah strongholds.
The region around Iqlim al-Tuffah was also reportedly attacked.
US military attacks Houthi target in Yemen again
The US military has again destroyed an anti-ship missile belonging to the militant Islamist Houthis in Yemen.
The responsible US regional command Centcom announced on the online platform X (formerly Twitter) that US forces had identified the cruise missile on Tuesday afternoon (local time) in the areas controlled by the Houthis.
He was ready to shoot at ships in the Red Sea.
Late in the evening (local time), an anti-ship ballistic missile was also fired from areas in Yemen into the Gulf of Aden, the statement said.
The US Navy tracked the missile but took no action because it was not expected to hit near ships.
There were also no reports of injuries or damage to ships in the region.
dpa