GAZA STRIP: Egypt welcomed envoys on Sunday to discuss a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. However, according to an Israeli daily, Tel Aviv withdrew from the discussions after its demand to be given a comprehensive list of prisoners still alive was denied.
Arriving in Cairo for the negotiations, which were supposed to be the last step before a six-week ceasefire, was a Hamas delegation.
However, the Israelis had vanished from sight by early nightfall.
Unidentified Israeli officials were described by Ynet, the online edition of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, as stating that “there is no Israeli delegation in Cairo.”
According to the health ministry, at least 16 children have perished recently from hunger as the famine expands.
The agreement was “not yet there,” a Palestinian official told Reuters after the Hamas group arrived. Israel did not provide a formal statement.
With just one week until the start of Ramadan, Washington has maintained that a ceasefire agreement is near and should be in place in time to put an end to hostilities. However, there has been no public indication from the opposing parties that they will abandon their earlier demands.
An deal within the next 24 to 48 hours, according to a Hamas official, would be possible if Israel complied with its demands, which have included a military departure from Gaza and more humanitarian aid.
With only a week-long break in November, the battle has raged for five months and an agreement would offer the first prolonged truce. In exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the extremists would release dozens of hostages they had taken.
At least 90 Palestinians have died in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry on Sunday. Among them were 14 family members whose home in the Rafah refugee camp had been struck by gunfire. On Sunday, two of them—the twins Naeem and Wissam Abu Anza—were buried. The family home was exclusively occupied by civilians, according to relative Shehda Abu Anza.
He claimed that “all of them were sleeping when suddenly a missile hit and destroyed the whole house,” as other inhabitants and family members used their bare hands to scavenge the debris for food and corpses.
16 kids perish from starvation
A spokeswoman for the health ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, stated that as the famine moves north, at least 16 children have died from starvation in recent days, a symptom of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Along with many other Arab and European governments, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, conducted the first airdrop of aid to Gaza, which is experiencing a decline in the amount of goods that are being dropped over its land boundaries.
Officials and relief organizations, however, have stated that these operations have a restricted reach and cannot take the place of overland humanitarian access.
As part of a truce agreement, the Hamas official stated that the organization would require the entry of at least 400 to 500 trucks each day carrying food, medication, and fuel.
An official from Hamas headquartered in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, stated to Qatar’s Al-Araby TV that the organization demanded an end to the group’s violence against our people and a permanent ceasefire.
Abbas will go to Turkey
Separately, Mahmud Abbas, the president of Palestine, is scheduled to visit Turkiye the next week to discuss the conflict and efforts to bring the various Palestinian groups together.
In closing remarks at an annual diplomacy gathering in Antalya, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated, “There is a serious desire and effort to reach a ceasefire before Ramazan.” He verified that on Tuesday, Abbas would travel to Ankara.
