- Blinken, Rafah operation would cause damage beyond acceptable
- Media, Qatar available on request US expulsion of Hamas
Hamas Ministry of Health, deaths in Gaza are 34,654
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health provided the new Palestinian death toll since the start of the Israeli offensive in the Strip: 34,654.
Egyptian media, significant progress in Gaza negotiations
“There is significant progress in the negotiations” between Hamas and Israel on the proposed ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza: this was announced by the Egyptian broadcaster Al-Qahera News, linked to the country’s secret services, citing an anonymous source . Egyptian mediators have “reached an agreed formula on most of the controversial points,” she added.
Gaza, Hamas negotiators have arrived in Egypt
Hamas representatives have arrived in Egypt for talks on the ceasefire in Gaza: Egyptian TV reports
Blinken, Rafah operation would cause damage beyond acceptable
The damage from an Israeli military operation in Rafah “would be beyond acceptable” without a plan to protect Palestinian civilians. This is the warning re-launched by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona. «There is no such plan, we cannot support a major military operation in Rafahbecause the damage they would do would go beyond what is acceptable”, warned Blinken, according to whom “there are better ways to do what Israel needs to solve what remains of the Hamas problem”.
Media, Qatar available on request US expulsion of Hamas
Qatar is ready to accept the US request to expel the Hamas leadership, including Ismail Haniyeh, from Doha. A source familiar with the dossier told the Times of Israel. According to the Washington Post (WP), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month delivered the request to “expel” Hamas leaders from the country if they continue to reject the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Blinken – according to the newspaper – delivered this message to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani last month. The WP also reported that Qatar had been waiting for the US request for months.
Blinken: “Attack on Rafah unacceptable”
«An Israeli attack on Rafah, the city in the southern Gaza Strip where more than a million Palestinians displaced by the war are crowded together, would cause damage «beyond acceptable», warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to Blinken, Israel has not presented any plans to protect civilians during this possible attack. “In the absence of such a plan, we cannot support a large-scale military operation in Rafah, because the damage it would cause would be beyond what is acceptable,” he said at the McCain Institute Forum in Sedona, Arizona.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched an attack on the central part of the Gaza Strip. Al Mayadeen reports it. According to the TV channel, some people were injured following the attack in Nuseirat.
«Hamas is the only obstacle to the ceasefire in Gaza»: the US Secretary of State said so Antony Blinken, while the militants prepare to send a delegation to Cairo for talks. “We’re waiting to see if, in fact, they’re going to accept a yes response to a ceasefire and hostage release,” Blinken stressed. “The reality right now,” he concluded, “is that the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas.”
Israel has given Hamas a week to accept the ceasefire agreement, otherwise he will launch the military operation in Rafah. Meanwhile, CIA director William Burns is in Cairo to discuss developments in the conflict and seek an agreement.
