War in Gaza, Hamas negative on the truce document: “But we continue to negotiate”. Egypt invites the parties to return to the table

After the closing message of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the peace negotiations, too Hamas freezes negotiations. “The position on the current negotiating document is negative,” he said Osama Hamdanhigh representative of the Islamist movement in Lebanon, in an interview with a local TV broadcast by New York Times. The spokesperson then clarified that this “does not mean that negotiations have stopped”. “Even if the group does not accept the current Israeli proposals without modification, we are willing to continue negotiating,” he explained. According to the Saudi newspaper AsharqEgypt has extended an invitation to Hamas militiamen and Israeli officials to return to Cairo – the site of the talks held so far – in order to try to bridge the gap between the parties.

On Thursday Netanyahu had a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in which – reports the Berlin government spokesperson – they “talked about the ongoing efforts to free all the hostages held by Hamas and about the ceasefire”, as well as ” of a further commitment to humanitarian aid for the population in the Gaza Strip”. Meanwhile in Tel Aviv a demonstration blocked the Ayalon highway (video): the participants ask for an immediate agreement for the release of the hostages still in the hands of Hamas: leading the protest, among others, Yehuda Cohen, the father of 19-year-old Nimrod Cohen, and Shay Mozes, the nephew of 79-year-old Gadi Mozes. Also present were members of a women-led protest group calling on Israel not to launch its upcoming offensive in Rafah, warning that this will endanger the lives of hostages.

Israeli bombing continues on the Gaza Strip: six people were killed by an offensive on the city of Al-Zahraa, north of the Nuseirat camp, in the center of the enclave. One dead and several injured also at Khan Younis, in the south, where the Qaa al-Qurain area was hit. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, at least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured since last October 7, the day the new escalation began: in the last 24 hours there have been 28 victims. Meanwhile, a report from the Nations Development Program united estimates that at least 370 thousand housing units in Gaza have been damaged, of which 79 thousand have been completely destroyed: even if the war ended today, it would take time until 2040 to rebuild.