Gaza ceasefire talks underway in Paris as air strikes continue
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[February 24, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud
CAIRO/RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) -Gaza truce talks were underway in
Paris on Friday, in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks
to halt the fighting in the battered Palestinian enclave and see Israeli
and foreign hostages released.
A source briefed on the ceasefire talks, who could not be identified by
name or nationality, said talks had begun with Israel's head of Mossad
intelligence service meeting separately with each party - Qatar, Egypt
and United States.
"There are budding signs of optimism about being able to move forward
toward the start of a serious negotiation," the source said. Egypt's Al
Qahera TV News also reported that the talks had begun.
An official from Hamas said the militant group had wrapped up ceasefire
talks in Cairo and was now waiting to see what mediators bring back from
the weekend talks with Israel.
Mediators have ramped up efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, in the
hope of heading off an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah where
more than a million displaced people are sheltering at the southern edge
of the enclave.
Israel says it will attack the city if no truce agreement is reached
soon. Washington has called on its close ally not to do so, warning of
vast civilian casualties if an assault on the city goes ahead.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a
truce this past week on his first visit since December.
Two Egyptian security sources earlier confirmed that Egyptian
intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would head on Friday to Paris for the
talks with the Israelis, after wrapping up talks with Haniyeh on
Thursday. Israel has not publicly commented on the Paris talks, which
are expected to continue through the weekend.
The Hamas official, who asked not to be identified, said the militant
group did not offer any new proposal at the talks with the Egyptians,
but was waiting to see what the mediators would bring back from their
talks with the Israelis.
"We discussed our proposal with them (the Egyptians) and we are going to
wait until they return from Paris," the Hamas official said.
CEASEFIRE OUTLINE EMERGED FROM EARLIER TALKS
The last time similar talks were held in Paris, at the start of
February, they produced an outline for the first extended ceasefire of
the war, approved by Israel and the United States. Hamas responded with
a counterproposal, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then
rejected as "delusional".
Hamas, which is still believed to be holding more than 100 hostages
seized in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, says it
will free them only as part of a truce that ends with an Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will not pull out until Hamas is
eradicated.
Late on Thursday, Netanyahu presented his security cabinet with an
official plan for Gaza once the fighting stops. He emphasized that
Israel expects to maintain security control over the enclave after
destroying Hamas, and also sees no role there for the Palestinian
Authority (PA) based in the West Bank.
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Demonstrators carry flags and banners during a protest in support of
Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and
the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Amman, Jordan February 23,
2024. REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
Washington favors a role for a reformed PA.
Two Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations said Hamas
has not changed its stance in the latest push to reach a deal, and
still demands that a truce end with an Israeli pullout.
"Israel's position and its response to mediation has been negative
and this poses many obstacles towards reaching an agreement," senior
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Friday during a press conference
in Beirut.
"Netanyahu is procrastinating... He does not care about the release
of his hostages, but rather uses this issue as a card to achieve his
goals," Hamdan said.
COMEDIAN'S FAMILY KILLED IN AIR STRIKES
As night fell over the impoverished strip, an air strike targeting a
residential unit in central Gaza's Deir Al-Balah killed at least 22
Palestinians, health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.
Health officials said many family members of Mahmoud Abu Zaeiter, a
comedian with 1.2 million online followers, were among the dead.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which says it is doing
its best to minimize harm to civilians as it battles militants in
urban areas.
The Gaza health ministry said earlier that 104 people had been
killed and 160 others were wounded in Israeli military strikes in
the past 24 hours.
The Israeli military said it had killed dozens of militants and
seized weapons across Gaza since Thursday.
At a morgue in Rafah, where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million people
are sheltering, a family knelt by the body of their child, killed by
Israeli strikes overnight into Friday. They tenderly touched and
stroked the small body through a shroud.
Deir al-Balah is one of the few other areas yet to be stormed by the
Israelis. In video obtained by Reuters, bereaved families crowded a
hospital, where Ahmed Azzam held up the body of his dead baby son
wrapped in a shroud, shouting: "You killed them Netanyahu. You
killed this innocent child!"
At least 29,514 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on
Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry said on Friday.
Israel launched its months-long military campaign after militants
from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in
southern Israel on Oct 7.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Bassam Massoud in Rafah,
Dan Williams and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Henriette Chacar in
Jaffa and Adam Makary in Cairo; Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi and
Maayan Lubell; Editing by Peter Graff and Philippa Fletcher)
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