Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu blame each other for the failure of the Gaza truce negotiations

Since the announcement of the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza on Sunday by the Israeli army, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under intense pressure to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages still being held in exchange for a truce in the fighting, which would allow us to move towards a ceasefire after almost eleven months of war.

Hamas and Netanyahu blame each other for the lack of progress in the negotiations, where an anti-polio campaign has already vaccinated nearly 200,000 children, according to the WHO.

Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu blame each other for the failure of the Gaza truce negotiations

The Palestinian Islamist movement insists on the implementation, as it stands, of a deal plan announced on May 31 by US President Joe Biden, which it had accepted. “We are trying to find grounds to start negotiations, but we are not [le Hamas] decline [et disent] that there is nothing to discuss”the Israeli Prime Minister denounced on Wednesday.

“We don’t need new proposals”Hamas wrote on Telegram on Thursday, adding that Netanyahu “He used negotiations to prolong the aggression against the people” Palestinian.

The Israeli Prime Minister wants Israel to maintain control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a buffer zone on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, to prevent Hamas from bringing weapons into Palestinian territory or even exfiltrating hostages or some of its fighters through tunnels. Hamas demands an Israeli withdrawal from the area. Netanyahu’s insistence on controlling the Philadelphia Corridor “aims to prevent an agreement from being reached”Hamas denounces.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock began a new Middle East tour in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to support international efforts for a truce.

Gaza truce: Hamas calls on Washington to put pressure on Israel

The chief negotiator for the Palestinian Islamist movement, Khalil Al-Hayya, urged the United States on Thursday to put pressure on Israel to reach a truce agreement in Gaza accompanied by the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

“If the US administration and its president, [Joe] Biden, if you really want to achieve a ceasefire and conclude a prisoner exchange deal, you must abandon your blind bias in favor of the Zionist occupation and put real pressure on [Benyamin] Netanyahu and his government »said Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s Qatar-based political bureau, quoted in a statement from the movement.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Thursday called on each side to make concessions.

Palestinian Red Crescent reports five dead in Israeli attack in Tubas, occupied West Bank

The Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Thursday that five people were killed and another seriously injured in an attack in Tubas, in the northern occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army confirmed it was carrying out a raid. The Israeli army said on Telegram that it had carried out “three targeted strikes against armed terrorists who posed a threat” for his soldiers in the Tubas area.

In a press release published on Thursday, it said it had started a “anti-terrorist operation” in Tubas province, in particular in the town of the same name and in the Al-Faraa refugee camp. Without giving death tolls, the army added that among the dead were Mohammad Zakaria Zubeidi, “a major terrorist from the Jenin region”also located in the northern West Bank.

He said Mohammad was the son of Zakaria Zubeidi, leader of the armed wing of Fatah, the political movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and also the alleged mastermind of a spectacular prison break in northern Israel in 2021.

At least thirty-six Palestinians (including minors) have been killed and one hundred and forty-five wounded since the start of a major operation launched by the Israeli army in the northern West Bank on August 28, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.