International diplomatic efforts are intensifying to try to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas for the release of the hostages and for a ceasefire in Gaza. In the evening, US President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a last attempt to avoid the offensive on Rafah and favor an agreement that would give respite to the Strip, devastated by hunger and famine after almost seven months of war.
Biden and Netanyahu, we read in a note from the White House at the end of the phone call between the two leaders, “examined the ongoing talks to guarantee the release of the hostages and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”. Biden, we read further, “referred to his statement with 17 other world leaders asking that Hamas release its citizens without delay to guarantee a ceasefire and aid to the population of Gaza”.
On the table is the proposal from Tel Aviv and Cairo for a ceasefire on which, according to statements by senior Hamas officials, there should be “no significant problems”, provided that Israel does not pose new obstacles. Hamas has made it known that it will officially respond to the proposal tomorrow and, precisely for this reason, the efforts of the mediators, including the USA, are strengthening.
Tomorrow a delegation of the Islamist movement, led by Khalil al Hayya, deputy of the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, will arrive in Egypt in a more positive climate perhaps than in the past and, according to Axios, also on the Israeli side, it is the first time in almost seven months of war that the leaders say they are willing to discuss the end of the war. Although, in the evening some Israeli sources once again weakened hopes of a truce. «Preparations for Rafah continue» they said, and, even with an agreement on the hostages, «Israel will not give up its war objectives».
The Israeli government is facing growing domestic and international pressure to reach an agreement. A pressure that is increasingly driving Netanyahu to the wall, weakened also by an internal conflict in the country.
