Gaza, Biden hears from Al Sisi: “Egypt must do everything necessary to guarantee the release of the hostages held by Hamas”

The president of the United States, Joe Bidenhad a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah Al Sisthe. The phone call, a note reports, focused on the latest proposal sent to Hamas to agree a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, functional to the release of the hostages and the strengthening of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population. Biden asked Al Sisi to do “everything necessary” to guarantee the release of the hostages still in the hands of Hamas, since “this is the last obstacle that separates us from a ceasefire”. The US president also reiterated the need to protect civilians during military operations in Gaza, saying that Palestinian civilians must not be forcibly relocated to Egypt or elsewhere outside Gaza.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, meanwhile, has received a new proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, put forward by the Egyptian authorities and which provides for the release of 33 hostages kidnapped in Israel during the attack on 7 October. Anonymous sources reported this to the broadcaster “CNN”, adding that the proposed solution involves two phases. The first involves the release of “20 to 33 hostages” over the course of “several weeks”, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. The second refers to the “restoration of a situation of calm”, during which other Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages and Israeli soldiers. One of the sources specified that the “situation of calm” described in the proposal would refer to a “permanent ceasefire”.

The proposal represents a new attempt to overcome the months-long stalemate over a hostage agreement and truce in Gaza, ahead of an imminent Israeli operation in the city of Rafah, which currently hosts more than a million fleeing refugees. from the conflict. At the moment, the sources explained, the Israeli authorities are waiting for Hamas’ response to this new proposal. Hamas’ response, he added, is expected “in the next few days, possibly even in the next 24 hours”.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in Riyadh for the World Economic Forum (WEF) declared that “an extraordinarily generous proposal” was presented to Hamas, without however going into the details reported by the sources to “CNN”. “Right now, the only obstacle separating the people of Gaza from a truce is Hamas: they have to decide, they have to do it quickly and I hope they do the right thing,” the head of US diplomacy told the president of the WEF, Borge Brende, in the Saudi capital.

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