The President of the United States of America (USA) Joseph Biden spoke by phone today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and US Vice President Kamala Harris joined the call, the White House announced.
"The US president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages, as well as diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the Middle East region," the White House said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has just completed a new tour of the Middle East, with no reported breakthrough on the Gaza truce deal, as hopes for a truce dwindle.
In the war that was launched by the attack of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, tens of thousands of people died in that Palestinian territory where about 2,4 million inhabitants are under siege in conditions that the UN considers "catastrophic".
(BETA)
Egypt, the key mediator in the negotiations on the cease-fire in Gaza, expressed today, a day before the expected continuation of negotiations in Cairo, doubts about the proposal of the agreement, since new details of the document, which aims to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, were revealed.
Challenges to the proposal to overcome differences appear to undermine the optimism fueled by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to the Middle East region this week.
Diplomatic efforts have been redoubled as fears of a wider regional war grow over targeted killings of Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah leaders blamed on Israel, and threats of retaliation.
Officials in Egypt, which has a unique role as both mediator and affected party because it borders Gaza, told The Associated Press that the extremist organization Hamas would not agree to the proposal for a number of reasons, with concerns over whether the deal would actually remove Israeli forces from Gaza and end the conflict. war.
An Egyptian official familiar with the negotiations said the proposal calls for the implementation of a first phase in which Hamas would release the most vulnerable civilian hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.
During the first phase, the parties would negotiate the second and third phases without guarantees to Hamas from Israel and mediators.
"The Americans are offering a promise, not guarantees. Hamas will not accept that because it means Hamas will release civilian hostages in exchange for a six-week pause in fighting with no guarantees of a permanent negotiated ceasefire," the unnamed official said.
He also said that the proposal did not clearly state that Israel would withdraw forces from two strategic corridors in Gaza - "Philadephia" along the Egyptian border and "Necarim" from east to west across the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli offer is reducing its forces in the "Philadelphia" Corridor with a "promise" to withdraw from the area, the same official said.
"This is not acceptable for us, of course not for Hamas either," said the Egyptian official.
On the other side of the front, the Lebanese Hezbollah today fired more than 50 rockets at houses on the annexed Golan Heights, and one person was wounded. Hezbollah said it was in response to an Israeli attack last night deep in Lebanon that killed one person and wounded 19 others.
(BETA)
Thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians have begun evacuating the area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, following new Israeli evacuation orders.
According to Anadolu, the area was previously designated as a "safe zone" for civilians, but the Israeli army ordered residents to leave before a new military operation.
Army spokesman Avichay Adrae said certain neighborhoods in Deir al-Balah were now considered a "dangerous combat zone," urging residents to move west ahead of an imminent attack in the area.
"The warning forced thousands of civilians to flee on foot," said eyewitnesses.
The United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) said last week that Israel had reduced the "humanitarian zone" in Gaza to just 11 percent of the territory, causing panic and fear among the displaced.
According to the government media office in Gaza, two million people in the Palestinian enclave have been displaced.
Clashes in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel.
According to local health authorities, more than 40 thousand Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks, and more than 92.980 were injured.
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The conflict between Israel and Hamas has entered its 320th day.
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