KEYSTONE/XINHUA/Israel Defense Forces
“It’s the last opportunity before the military operation in Rafah.” Israel warns Hamas that it will not tolerate any further waste of time on the lives of the hostages: either “an agreement is reached in the near future, or the army will enter” the city in the southern Gaza Strip, a refuge for over a million displaced people Palestinians and, for the Jewish State, also the last stronghold of terrorists and hideout for kidnapped people.
The message was sent loud and clear through Egypt which, worried about a massive exodus of refugees towards the Sinai in the event of an invasion in Rafah, sent a high-level delegation to Tel Aviv, led by the head of the secret services Abbas Kamelin an attempt to break the deadlock and avoid what is now the intention of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahuhowever, appears inevitable.
A senior official of the Jewish State who described the talks as “very good”, conducted in a “positive spirit” and a harbinger of “progress”, reported that Israel had conveyed its conditions to the delegates in Cairo: Hamas must free at least 33 hostages, as proposed by the Egyptians themselves.
This is the number of women, elderly and injured people still alive, out of the approximately 130 kidnapped people held – alive or dead – in the Strip, according to a balance sheet by the Israeli secret services cited by the English-language Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post, which however does not mention the fate of men under 50.
In exchange, the Palestinians could return to northern Gaza
In exchange, the Jewish State, which remains firm in its refusal to end the war prematurely, has said it is willing to allow the Palestinians to return to northern Gaza – added the same official – also withdrawing the army from the Netzarim Corridor, the road that cuts the Strip in two from where the military prevents access from the south.
The American Secretary of State is also about to return to Israel once again to discuss the entire dossier, Antony Blinkenspokesperson for the American opposition to the raid on Rafah without a prior, massive and necessary displacement of civilians.
The head of the State Department will not arrive before Tuesday, while over the weekend the war in Gaza will be on the agenda of Arab, American and European diplomats and UN officials gathered at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The conflict intensifies on Israel’s northern border
Meanwhile, the conflict intensifies on the northern border of Israel: the armed forces of the Jewish state have announced that they have killed a leading member of the Jamaa Islamyia in a targeted raid with drones, Mosab Khalafas he drove his car on a highway near Meidoun in the West Beqaa district, one of Hezbollah’s strongholds in southern Lebanon.
According to the army, Khalaf “had led and carried out numerous attacks” from Lebanon against Israeli targets, especially in the Mount Dov area, and was also coordinating attacks with the Lebanese branch of Hamas.
Precisely in the Mount Dov area, a civilian who worked as a worker for the army in strengthening defensive barriers on the border was killed on Thursday evening by a Hezbollah anti-tank rocket attack. The truck he was traveling in was hit head on, the Israeli army then said it had targeted the launch base with artillery.
Tension has reignited near Tel Aviv
In Ramla, near Tel Aviv, tension reignited when a 19-year-old girl was seriously stabbed by a man who was then shot dead before attacking another victim. Police said they were investigating the incident as a suspected terrorist attack, but also said the attacker was “mentally unstable.”
While he was leaving the place where he had gone for an inspection, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, was involved in a road accident: the car in which he was traveling with his daughter and the driver overturned. The three suffered minor injuries. An eyewitness told Jewish state-based news site Ynet that Ben Gvir’s car ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle.
SDA
