Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a
new round of talks in Doha and Cairo
to negotiate
a truce in Gaza,
his office indicated this Friday, after contacts appeared to be bogged down and when a Security Council resolution prevails. of the UN that calls for an
"immediate ceasefire
" in the Strip, approved this Monday.
"Benjamin Netanyahu met with the director of Mossad (the foreign secret service) and the director of the Shin Bet (internal intelligence), and approved a new round of negotiations in the coming days in Doha and Cairo (...), to move forward," his office said in a statement.
Since the UN Security Council adopted the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip on Monday, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel
have blamed each other
for the inability to reach a truce agreement.
Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, said on Tuesday that talks on a truce and hostage release were continuing, but the parties and mediators
have offered little information
since then.
Image of a survivor rescued from the rubble after Israeli airstrikes, in the city of Rafah. Photo: Xinhua
The war began on October 7 with the surprise attack by Hamas in Israel, which left 1,160 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli sources.
According to Israel,
some 250 people were kidnapped that day
by Hamas and 130 of them remain hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom reportedly died.
In retaliation,
Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas
and launched a vast operation that left at least
32,623 dead
, mostly women and minors, according to the Hamas Health Ministry. And it dragged the Strip into a hell of devastation and hunger.
The bombings continue
Meanwhile, Israel continues its bombing campaign.
This Friday, it bombed the Gaza Strip again. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Friday morning that fighting and shelling, especially in Rafah, had caused "dozens of deaths."
In that city in the south of the Strip, considered by Israel to be the last stronghold of Hamas, 1.5 million people are crowded together,
the majority displaced
by violence in other parts of the territory.
The conflict has left the narrow territory in ruins and its 2.4 million inhabitants on the brink of famine, according to the UN.
"There is no other place in the world where there are such a significant number of people facing imminent famine," Matthew Hollingworth, head of the World Food Program (WFP) for the Palestinian Territories, denounced on X Thursday.
The ICJ ordered the sending of aid
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest UN court, based in The Hague, on Thursday ordered Israel to guarantee "without delay" the unhindered delivery of "basic services and urgent humanitarian aid" to Gaza.
Following a lawsuit from South Africa, the ICJ
in January demanded that Israel prevent any act of "genocide"
in Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian aid. Israel called the accusations "scandalous."
Palestinians in the rubble left by an Israeli attack in Rafah. Photo: SAID KHATIB / AFP
Hamas welcomed the ICJ ruling and called for it to be put into practice "immediately."
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the small territory and ground aid only arrives in dribs and drabs.
Several countries are dropping food by parachute
, especially in the north of the Strip, where the situation is desperate.
With information from AFP