Europe 1 with AFP 12:04 p.m., February 18, 2024
Prospects for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza faded on Sunday, with the United States threatening to once again block a draft resolution at the UN Security Council and Qatari negotiators expressing their pessimism about the possibility of a truce.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded, despite calls from part of the international community. Designed after the decision at the end of January by the International Court of Justice which called on Israel to prevent any possible act of “genocide” in Gaza, the draft resolution initiated by Algeria “demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which must be respected by all parties.
Algiers requested a vote be held on Tuesday. The United States has already threatened a veto as during previous votes in mid-October and early December despite pressure from the international community in the face of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirms his intention to launch an offensive in Rafah
The draft resolution "refuses the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population" and once again calls for the release of all hostages taken to Gaza during the October 7 attack. On Saturday in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu reaffirmed his intention to launch an offensive in Rafah. “Anyone who wants to stop us from carrying out an operation in Rafah is basically telling us to lose the war. I am not going to give in to that,” he said.
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- Benjamin Netanyahu believes that not carrying out an operation in Rafah would amount to “losing the war” against Hamas
Serious concerns have been expressed around the world, including by the American ally, for the civilians, most of them displaced, in this city located on the closed border with Egypt. During a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, according to his services, repeated "Egypt's categorical position of rejecting the displacement of Palestinians (towards its territory, editor's note) under any form."
In recent days, an Egyptian NGO and the
Wall Street Journal
reported that Egypt was building a closed and secure camp in the Sinai intended to accommodate Palestinian refugees in the event of an Israeli offensive on Rafah.
Negotiations “not very promising”
Negotiations involving Egyptian, American and Qatari mediators to obtain a truce between Hamas and Israel, including an exchange between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, have taken place in recent weeks.
Negotiations have “not been very promising in recent days,” Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane al-Thani said in Munich. But “we will do our best to get closer” to an agreement, he added. Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, threatened to walk out of the talks if "(humanitarian) aid was not delivered to northern Gaza."
Its leader Ismaïl Haniyeh repeated that his movement demanded a ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Conditions rejected several times by Israel, whose major offensive in Gaza has razed entire neighborhoods, displaced 1.7 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants and caused a major humanitarian crisis according to the UN.
130 hostages still held in Gaza, says Israel
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an attack in southern Israel during which more than 1,160 people were killed, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. .
Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, which it classifies, like the United States and the European Union, as "terrorist. The offensive of its army in Gaza has cost the lives of 28,858 people, in the vast majority of civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7. At the end of November, a one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
“Catastrophic” situation and risk of famine
After carrying out incessant bombings against the 362 km2 territory since October 7, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip on October 27 before extending it to the south. For weeks, its soldiers have concentrated their operations in Khan Younes, the hometown of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahia Sinouar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack.
At the Nasser hospital in the city transformed into a field of ruins, six patients including a child have died since Friday due to power cuts, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Soldiers entered the hospital on Thursday based on intelligence that hostages were being held there, the army said, reporting the arrest of 100 people and the discovery of weapons. The army also indicated on Sunday that it had killed around 35 "terrorists" in Khan Younes and "more than ten" others in operations in the center of the territory, during the last 24 hours.
International organizations have expressed concern, with Doctors Without Borders describing the situation in the hospital as “catastrophic”. As more aid arrived in Rafah on Saturday, the UN warned that residents of the Gaza Strip risked starvation. “We are not going to die from the bombs, but from hunger,” said Mohammed Nassar, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
Protests against the Netanyahu government in Israel and abroad
In Tel Aviv, thousands of Israelis demonstrated against the Netanyahu government and called on it to reach a deal to free the hostages. “I beg the prime minister and the government to negotiate... Do not sentence my husband to death,” Sharon Aloni-Cunio, a hostage who was released with her twins while her husband is still in custody, said at the rally. detained in Gaza. Abroad, demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinians took place in several cities, including Rome, London, Stockholm, Istanbul and Mexico City.