Yanis Darras 11:26 a.m., February 27, 2024, modified at 11:32 a.m., February 27, 2024

On the 142nd day of the war, US President Joe Biden affirmed that Israel had agreed to cease its military operations in Gaza during Ramadan, in order to allow the release of all Hamas hostages, at a time when the population of the besieged Palestinian territory is threatened with famine after almost five months of war.

US President Joe Biden said Israel had agreed to cease its military operations in Gaza during Ramadan to allow the release of all Hamas hostages, at a time when the population of the besieged Palestinian territory is threatened with famine. after almost five months of war.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States in particular are trying to negotiate a new truce between Israel and Hamas, as the results of the war triggered on October 7 by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil approach. the 30,000 dead in Gaza, according to the count of the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Mediators hope to secure a break in the fighting before the start of Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month, which begins this year on March 10 or 11, but both sides have refused to compromise so far.

Hamas has been demanding for weeks a complete ceasefire before any agreement on the release of the hostages.

Israel, for its part, affirms that a truce would not mean the end of the war and that it would continue until the total elimination of Hamas.

“Ramadan is coming and there was an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in operations during Ramadan, in order to give us time to get out all the hostages” held by Hamas since October 7, Joe Biden said on American television NBC on Monday.

The international community is particularly concerned about the potentially disastrous consequences of an upcoming ground offensive announced by Israel on the overpopulated town of Rafah, in the south of Gaza, where, according to the UN, nearly one and a half million people are taking refuge. Palestinians, trapped against the closed border with Egypt.

The main information:

  • According to Joe Biden, Israel would have agreed to cease its military operations in Gaza during Ramadan, in order to allow the release of all Hamas hostages

  • Benjamin Netanyahu says Rafah is Hamas's 'last bastion'

  • The death toll rises to 29,878 in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to Hamas

A ceasefire “Not done yet”

“I am hopeful that by next Monday we will have a cease-fire,” Joe Biden said earlier.

“My national security adviser tells me that we are close, it is not done yet,” he qualified.

An Israeli official told the Ynet news site that "the trend is positive," on condition of anonymity.

Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, the country at the center of the negotiating efforts and which hosts the political leadership of Hamas, begins a two-day state visit to Paris on Tuesday where he is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to Qatar's official news agency, the emir has just met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha and discussed with him efforts "aimed at reaching an immediate and permanent ceasefire agreement." .

But Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Sunday that Israel would soon launch a ground operation against Rafah, allowing, according to him, a "total victory" over Hamas in "a few weeks".

A truce would only “delay” this offensive, he stressed.

Benjamin Netanyahu affirms that Rafah is the "last bastion" of Hamas, four months after the start of the ground offensive, accompanied by deadly bombings, launched on October 27 in the north of Gaza then gradually extended towards the south.

The army presented Monday to the war cabinet "a plan for the evacuation of populations from combat zones in the Gaza Strip, as well as the plan for future operations", according to the prime minister's office, without giving any details. detail on where civilians could take refuge.

The war broke out on October 7 when Hamas commandos launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally taken from official Israeli data.

During the attack, some 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held there, 31 of whom are believed to have died, after the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians held by Israel during a truce at the end of November.

The human toll increases, according to Hamas

In retaliation for the attack, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers, along with the United States and the European Union, to be a terrorist organization.

The Israeli offensive has so far left 29,878 dead in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, which counted 96 dead in 24 hours on Tuesday.

The army for its part announced “carrying out targeted operations” particularly in Zeitun, in the north, and in the center of the territory.

An offensive on Rafah would 'sound the death knell' for humanitarian aid programs in Gaza

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that an offensive on Rafah would "sound the death knell" for humanitarian aid programs in Gaza.

This city is the only entry point for humanitarian aid into the territory, where 2.2 million people, according to the UN, are threatened with famine.

Aid is entering in very insufficient quantities from Egypt, subject to the green light from Israel, and its delivery to northern Gaza is almost impossible due to the destruction and fighting.

Palestinians in Gaza told AFP of being forced to eat leaves, fodder for livestock, and even slaughter draft animals for food while the rare aid convoys reaching the north are looted by the population .

“We are dying of hunger,” Abdallah Al-Aqra, 40, a refugee in Gaza City, told AFP.

He said the army had shot on Sunday "at hungry people who were trying to get flour" brought by an aid truck.

The Israeli prime minister faces growing public pressure over the fate of the hostages and protests against his government have resumed.

On Tuesday, Israeli voters began voting in municipal elections, originally scheduled for late October but postponed twice due to the war.