“No one has any idea how many Israeli hostages are still alive.” The words of Osama Hamdan, Hamas representative in Beirut yesterday, sound like yet another blow to the hopes of a truce in the war in Gaza. Hopes that for weeks have focused on the plan supported by the USA for an agreement on the ceasefire and the release of the kidnapped, which fails to find a solution due to the position of the Palestinian militiamen, defined by US President Joe Biden at the G7 as «the most great obstacle” to the agreement.
In the Strip, the Israeli offensive on Rafah continues, Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli army has targeted areas west of the city, south of the Gaza Strip, with raids and artillery bombardments. The news was also reported by the Israeli Ynet which reports, citing Palestinian sources, that bombings and planes hit the Shabura refugee camp, one of the most densely populated areas in the center of Rafah. According to Palestinian media, Israeli military vehicles are advancing towards the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, located north of the city. And tensions in the north with Lebanon are not easing, from where Hezbollah’s attacks with dozens of rockets continue on the Upper Galilee.
In addition to the obscure declarations on the fate of the hostages captured on October 7, Hamdan reiterated in an interview with CNN the position of Hamas on the ceasefire proposal promoted by the United States and supported by a resolution of the UN Security Council: the Palestinian group it needs «a clear position from Israel to accept the ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza and let the Palestinians determine their future, their reconstruction, by themselves. Then we will be ready to talk about a fair agreement on the exchange of prisoners.”
Hamdan’s comments are the clearest public signal yet of Hamas’s position, which has remained largely unchanged in recent failed negotiations. And as the days pass, concern grows that the turning point in the negotiations hoped for by the West may not arrive, while the G7 has expressed support for Biden’s plan and has “reiterated its appeal to Hamas to accept the proposal” to cease the fire. “The biggest obstacle is that Hamas refuses to sign”, said the American president, underlining that now, “it remains to be seen whether the agreement will materialize or not”. If the optimism about the agreement fades, the war continues in the Strip, where the Israeli assault on Rafah and the bombings in the center of the enclave continue, while UNRWA accuses Israel of preventing the delivery of aid to the Palestinian population. But it is Israel’s northern border that now focuses fears of an escalation: Hezbollah’s launch of dozens of rockets on the northern territories of the Jewish state continues.
According to the IDF, the Shiite group launched 35 rockets on the territories of Kiryat Shmona and the community of Kfar Szold. Some were intercepted while anti fell causing damage and fires. In response, the Israeli army claimed to have struck Hezbollah positions. The tensions worry the G7, and in an attempt to resolve the crisis, French President Emmanuel Macron has evoked “an Israel-USA-France trilateral to carry forward the road map” proposed by Paris to ease tensions. A perspective abruptly rejected by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant according to whom France “has adopted hostile policies against Israel” and “ignores the atrocities committed by Hamas”. But Gallant’s utterances are not shared by the entire Netanyahu government, and they were not liked by the Foreign Ministry of the Jewish State, which “disapproved” of the defense chief’s words, calling them “inappropriate”. And remembering the active role played by Paris in defense of Israel and against anti-Semitism.
