Israel-Gaza war: Struggle for a ceasefire before the start of Ramadan

Enlarge image

Israeli troops on Monday in the south of the country on the border with the Gaza Strip

Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg / AP

In the struggle for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war, the mediating states want to use all their might to reach an agreement between Israel and the Islamist Hamas shortly before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The USA introduced an amended draft resolution in the UN Security Council calling for an “immediate ceasefire”.

The draft resolution for the most powerful UN body states that there is a "quick and urgent need for an agreement on an immediate ceasefire of around six weeks in Gaza and the release of all hostages."

On the same day, a truck convoy carrying food for people in the north of the sealed-off coastal strip was turned away by Israeli soldiers and then looted by a desperate crowd, according to the United Nations World Food Program.

Biden: Deal is in the hands of Hamas

US President Joe Biden emphasized on Tuesday that a temporary ceasefire before Ramadan, which begins in a few days, is urgently needed.

In order to gain time for talks about a longer ceasefire, negotiators from the USA, Qatar and Egypt proposed an initial short ceasefire in Cairo, according to the US newspaper "Wall Street Journal".

The talks in Egypt's capital are scheduled to continue on Wednesday.

"If we get into circumstances where this continues until Ramadan, then it could be very, very dangerous," said Biden in the US state of Maryland.

Ramadan begins around March 10th.

“The hostage deal is currently in the hands of Hamas,” Biden added.

Israel and some negotiators believed that Hamas wanted to escalate the fighting to inflame tensions across the region during the holy month of fasting for Muslims, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

For its part, Hamas points to Israel's threat to launch the planned ground offensive in Rafah on Gaza's southern border if no agreement is reached by Ramadan.

Israel wants to destroy the last remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.

In the city that borders Egypt, around 1.5 million Palestinians are currently seeking protection from the fighting in other parts of Gaza.

Israel initially wants to give Muslims access to the Temple Mount during Ramadan

In order to prevent an escalation of tensions between Israelis and predominantly Muslim Palestinians, Israel's government wants to initially allow Muslims to pray on Jerusalem's Temple Mount during Ramadan.

During Ramadan, they will be granted access to the shrines similar to previous years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday evening.

However, the security situation is reassessed weekly.

Netanyahu's right-wing extremist coalition partners had demanded massive restrictions on Muslims' access to the Temple Mount during Ramadan.

The army and secret services, however, advised against it.

Such restrictions could create an explosive situation, they argued.

The Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif, is sacred to both Jews and Muslims.

Lebanon: Indirect talks with Israel during Ramadan

According to Lebanese sources, indirect talks in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon will also begin during Ramadan.

This was announced by the acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday, according to the state news agency NNA.

Lebanese officials were considering a proposal from U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, who was in the Lebanese capital Beirut for talks the day before.

It was about a diplomatic solution between the Hezbollah militia and Israel, it was said.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the massacre by Hezbollah-allied Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7 last year, there has been repeated shelling in the Israeli-Lebanese border region.

Negotiations should continue

Meanwhile, mediators in the Gaza war want to continue their talks in Cairo about a ceasefire and the release of hostages, according to Egyptian security circles.

According to information from the dpa news agency, they are said to be in an advanced stage.

They could bring a ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners within days, it said.

In the past two days, Hamas has dealt positively with proposals from Qatar and Egypt, a senior Hamas official said on Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

He emphasized Hamas' position: "The security of our people can only be achieved through an end to the aggression, a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the occupying forces from Gaza." However, Israel has so far rejected a comprehensive ceasefire and continues to strive for the destruction of Hamas.

From Israel's perspective, only a temporary ceasefire in Gaza is conceivable within the framework of an agreement.

Reports: Telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip are down again

Meanwhile, telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip were reportedly down again.

The southern part of the sealed-off coastal area was particularly affected, said the organization NetBlocks, which is known for monitoring Internet blocks, on the X platform (formerly Twitter) late Tuesday evening.

The Israeli news site Ynet also reported, citing reports from the Gaza Strip, that internet connections were interrupted in large areas in Rafah in the south of the coastal strip and in the central part of Gaza.

Since the beginning of the war, the communication networks in the sealed-off coastal area have failed several times.

aeh/dpa