Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has proposed a two-day truce in Gaza that will doubtlessly pave the best way for a long-term ceasefire, as Israel’s genocide has killed greater than 1,000 Palestinians within the northern areas of the Strip in lower than a month.
El-Sisi’s proposal, which incorporates exchanging 4 Israeli captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, got here as 1000’s of trapped civilians endure relentless Israeli attacks which have killed at the very least 50 individuals, together with 5 journalists, since Sunday.
At a information convention in Cairo on Sunday, el-Sisi mentioned the 48-hour lull in combating and prisoner alternate could be adopted by extra talks within the subsequent 10 days, with the hope that negotiators might hammer out a peace deal.
Out of 251 captives seized by Hamas throughout the October 7, 2023 assault contained in the Israeli territory, 97 are believed to be nonetheless held in Gaza, together with 34 the Israeli army claims are useless. Greater than 100 captives have been launched throughout a weeklong truce final November.
El-Sisi didn’t say whether or not the plan had been formally introduced to both Israel or Hamas. However efforts to defuse the battle have resumed within the Qatari capital of Doha with the administrators of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad collaborating.
There was no instant remark from Israel or Hamas on the plan.
Egypt, alongside Qatar and the US, has for months been mediating oblique talks with little success. Among the many key points stopping a breakthrough has been Hamas’s insistence that Israel withdraw fully from Gaza, which Israeli officers have repeatedly rejected.
On Sunday, Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned “painful concessions” could be wanted in negotiations, and that army motion alone wouldn’t obtain the nation’s warfare goals.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara mentioned with the US, Egypt and Qatar concerned within the negotiations, “there’s a likelihood for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get one thing extra as we speak than what he would have gotten again in June.”
However Bishara added that it’s “unclear” if negotiations would lead to a deal this time, saying “the continuation of the warfare is essential” to Netanyahu “politically and personally”.
In the meantime, Al Jazeera correspondents in Gaza on Monday mentioned the newest Israeli assault on a gaggle of individuals within the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza Metropolis within the north of the Strip has killed at the very least three individuals. One other Palestinian was killed in a separate Israeli assault in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, based on the Wafa information company.
Earlier, Wafa reported that Israeli forces hit the Asma College housing displaced Palestinians within the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at the very least 11 individuals, together with three journalists.
In all, at the very least 53 individuals have been killed by Israeli raids throughout Gaza on Sunday and early Monday, most of them within the north.
Gaza’s Authorities Media Workplace mentioned the 5 journalists killed on Sunday have been Saed Radwan from Al-Aqsa TV, Hamza Abu Salmiya from the Sanad Information Company, Haneen Baroud from Al-Quds Basis, Abdul Rahman Samir al-Tanani from Sawt Al-Shaab, and Nadia Imad al-Sayed, who labored for a number of media retailers.
Their killing brings to at the very least 170 the variety of journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 final yr, based on the Strip’s media workplace. The New York-based Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ) locations the variety of journalists killed in Gaza at 131.
Palestinian-American journalist Stated Arikat informed Al Jazeera that Netanyahu and his cupboard don’t have any technique on Gaza apart from making the territory “uninhabitable”.
United Nations Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres additionally expressed deep concern for the destiny of Gaza’s civilians. “The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in north Gaza is insufferable,” Guterres’s spokesman mentioned on Sunday.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in Gaza, described the scene within the north within the final 24 hours as “horrifying”.
“It’s nonetheless escalating, and individuals are making an attempt to achieve out, crying, feeling that they’ve been deserted, asking for meals, water and medication,” she mentioned.
