Hope for Israelis and Palestinians agreeing a truce is gathering steam amid meetings in Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the humanitarian catastrophe that has reduced Gaza to rubble after months of relentless fighting.
Representatives for the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, were set to travel to Egypt’s capital Cairo on Monday for a fresh round of cease-fire talks. The delegation was to discuss a cease-fire proposal handed by the group to negotiators from Qatar and Egypt, including Israel’s response, Reuters reported.
US news website Axios reported that a new Israeli proposal for a possible hostage deal with Hamas included a willingness to discuss the "restoration of sustainable calm" in Gaza after an initial release of hostages on humanitarian grounds, citing two Israeli officials
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said in a statement on April 28 that they will not accept any agreement with Israel that does not include a cessation of hostilities in Gaza, Xinhua News Agency reported.
READ MORE: UN: 200 days into Israel-Hamas conflict, over 1m Gazans lost their homes
Hamas had said on April 27 that they had received Israel's response to their own position on the Gaza cease-fire — submitted to the mediators Egypt and Qatar on April 13 —and were studying it.
US news website Axios reported that a new Israeli proposal for a possible hostage deal with Hamas included a willingness to discuss the "restoration of sustainable calm" in Gaza after an initial release of hostages on humanitarian grounds, citing two Israeli officials.
It also noted that this was first time since the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that Israeli leaders were open to discussing an end to the conflict in Gaza as part of a hostage deal.
At a World Economic Forum special meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia on April 28, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that a possible Israeli attack on Rafah would be “the biggest catastrophe in the history of the Palestinian people”, adding that he also feared the post-conflict displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank to Jordan.
Also on the same day, United States President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to review ongoing talks to secure the release of hostages together with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to increase the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Both leaders discussed Rafah and Biden reiterated his “clear position”. Biden, in March, told Netanyahu that a major assault on Rafah would be a “mistake”.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms of intensifying joint Arab and Islamic efforts to reach an immediate cessation of the military assault on Gaza and ensure the protection of civilians by international humanitarian law
On April 26, Israeli officials had warned their Egyptian counterparts that they were ready to give hostage negotiations "one last chance" to reach a deal with Hamas before its long-planned assault on Rafah, the Times of Israel reported.
Elsewhere, United States Secretary Antony Blinken arrived in Riyadh on April 29 where he is expected to meet senior Saudi leaders and participate in a Gulf Cooperation Council ministerial meeting to advance coordination on regional security. He also was set to meet “regional partners” Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.
On April 28, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah chaired the meeting of the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Developments in Gaza.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms of intensifying joint Arab and Islamic efforts to reach an immediate cessation of the military assault on Gaza and ensure the protection of civilians by international humanitarian law.
The meeting also discussed work on taking the necessary steps to implement a two-state solution and recognizing the State of Palestine based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The meeting stressed that Gaza “is an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory” and the categorical rejection “of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people outside their land, and any military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah”.
The Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein Al Sheikh and Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi were also in attendance
The ministers called on the international community to impose effective sanctions on Israel, including stopping weapons sales, for alleged violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and “the war crimes it is committing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank”.
Further, the ministers underscored the need to activate international legal tools “to hold accountable Israelis responsible for these crimes” and the need to “stop settler terrorism and take clear and strict positions against it”.
The ministers expressed their concern about the measures taken against peaceful demonstrators in Western countries demanding “an end to the war in Gaza”, Israel’s “severe crimes”, and “violations against the Palestinians”.
READ MORE: Hamas says Israeli proposal fails to meet demands, but is under review
Committee members at the meeting included Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Al Safadi, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, and Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Hussein Ibrahim Taha.
The Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein Al Sheikh and Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi were also in attendance.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israel-Hamas conflict escalated on Oct 7 last year after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, in which less than 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.
Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com
