Proposals at the table

“Significant progress” in ceasefire deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

(Bild: AFP)

Negotiations on a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas are going badly - according to Egyptian state television, however, there has been "significant progress". According to the report, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the USA and representatives of Hamas are continuing their talks in the Egyptian capital on Monday. They have been trying for weeks to reach an agreement, including a ceasefire before the start of Ramadan.

The Islamic month of fasting begins this year on Sunday, March 10 and Monday, March 11. Central to the negotiations is also the release of the 130 hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Negotiated proposals are currently on the table, according to which the fighting in the Gaza Strip is to be suspended for six weeks. Hamas is to release Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Netanyahu: "We will not surrender"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called for Hamas to give in before the new round of negotiations on a hostage deal. "We are making great efforts to succeed, but one thing is clear to you - we will not capitulate to Hamas' delusional demands," he said in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening. While US Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire, Israel's army announced the killing of more terrorists.

This wall commemorates the hostages who were abducted during the major attack on Israel in October.

(Bild: AFP)

Israel wants list of hostages still alive
Prior to Netanyahu's speech, a further meeting of the mediating states USA, Qatar and Egypt had taken place in Cairo, which Israel - unlike Hamas - initially stayed away from. Among other things, Israel is initially demanding a list of the hostages still held by the Islamists. Netanyahu made it clear that it was too early to say whether there would be a concept for a deal in the next few days.

40 Israeli hostages against 400 Palestinians?
Israel also wants to know whether Hamas will agree to the number of Palestinian prisoners mentioned in the mediators' latest proposal, who would be released in exchange for hostages. According to recent media reports, 40 hostages could be exchanged for 400 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Netanyahu said that he had not yet received an answer to his questions. He rejected "the international pressure to end the war" before Israel had achieved all its goals. With or without a new agreement, "we will fight until total victory", Netanyahu affirmed.

The stalemate in the difficult indirect negotiations could become a problem for the mediators' efforts to achieve a ceasefire. The Qatari daily newspaper "Al Araby Al Jadid", which is published in London, quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that his organization would not be forced to hand over a hostage list. "There is a high price to pay for this, in the form of alleviating the suffering of the people in Gaza and a comprehensive ceasefire," he told the newspaper. According to the US, the mediation proposal only provides for a six-week ceasefire.

 Kamala Harris, however, urged a ceasefire. "The threat that Hamas poses to the Israeli people must be eliminated," said Harris on Sunday in Selma, Alabama. Referring to the ongoing negotiations, she added: "And given the immeasurable level of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is currently on the table."

US Vice President: "No excuses" for aid deliveries
"Our hearts break (...) for all the innocent people in Gaza who are suffering from what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe," Harris said at an event marking the anniversary of the bloody, racially motivated police crackdown on a civil rights demonstration in 1965. "People are starving, the conditions are inhumane," Harris called on the Israeli government to allow significantly more aid into the coastal area and to open new border crossings. There are "no excuses" in this regard.

The Israeli military announced the killing of a Hamas member responsible for recruiting terrorists. Mahmoud Muhammad Abd Khad was also involved in raising funds for terrorism and supporting the military activities of Hamas, the army announced on Sunday evening. He had been killed in cooperation with the Israeli secret service during an airstrike in the central section of the sealed-off coastal area. The army had previously reported that "more than 100 terrorists" had been killed in another operation in the north of the Gaza Strip. In addition, 35 facilities belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, including weapons depots and production facilities, were destroyed. "Dozens of terrorists" had been arrested. Furthermore, the army had discovered and destroyed hundreds of launching pads and launching devices. None of these claims could be independently verified.