CAIRO: A Hamas official said on Monday no progress had been made at talks in Cairo on a ceasefire in the Gaza war, and Israeli PM Netanyahu said a date was set for an invasion of Rafah, the enclave’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians.
Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA director William Burns.His presence underlined rising pressure from Israel’s main ally the US for a deal that would free Israeli hostages held in Gaza and get aid to Palestinians. “There is no change in the position of the occupation (Israel) and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official said. “No progress yet.”
In Jerusalem on Monday, a day after Israeli forces pulled back from some areas of southern Gaza, Netanyahu said he had received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. “We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date.” He did not specify the date.
Rafah is the last refuge for Palestinians displaced by relentless Israeli bombardments that have flattened their home neighbourhoods. It is also the last significant redoubt of Hamas combat units, Israel says.
The US said Monday it is still opposed a major Israeli assault on Rafah. President Biden’s administration has repeatedly called on Israel to present a plan to protect civilians in Rafah. “We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” state department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s remarks.
More than a million people are crammed into the southern city of Rafah in desperate conditions, short of food, water and shelter, and foreign govts and organisations have urged Israel against storming for fears of a bloodbath. Hundreds of residents who had living in tents in Rafah returned to their devastated home areas on Monday following the Israeli pullback. Some rode on donkey carts, rickshaws and open-deck vehicles while some just walked. “It is a shock, a shock … the destruction is unbearable,” said resident Mohammed Abou Diab.
Israeli military’s departure from southern Gaza over the weekend has left the territory without a major active battle for the first time since a brief truce with Hamas in Nov. But by withdrawing without empowering an alternative Palestinian leadership, Israel has left behind a power vacuum in which Hamas could re-emerge as a military force. The drawdown continues a process that began in Jan and leaves the equivalent of a single brigade in all of Gaza, or fewer than 5,000 troops – down from roughly 50,000 at the height of the war in Dec.
Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA director William Burns.His presence underlined rising pressure from Israel’s main ally the US for a deal that would free Israeli hostages held in Gaza and get aid to Palestinians. “There is no change in the position of the occupation (Israel) and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official said. “No progress yet.”
In Jerusalem on Monday, a day after Israeli forces pulled back from some areas of southern Gaza, Netanyahu said he had received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. “We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date.” He did not specify the date.
Rafah is the last refuge for Palestinians displaced by relentless Israeli bombardments that have flattened their home neighbourhoods. It is also the last significant redoubt of Hamas combat units, Israel says.
The US said Monday it is still opposed a major Israeli assault on Rafah. President Biden’s administration has repeatedly called on Israel to present a plan to protect civilians in Rafah. “We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” state department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s remarks.
More than a million people are crammed into the southern city of Rafah in desperate conditions, short of food, water and shelter, and foreign govts and organisations have urged Israel against storming for fears of a bloodbath. Hundreds of residents who had living in tents in Rafah returned to their devastated home areas on Monday following the Israeli pullback. Some rode on donkey carts, rickshaws and open-deck vehicles while some just walked. “It is a shock, a shock … the destruction is unbearable,” said resident Mohammed Abou Diab.
Israeli military’s departure from southern Gaza over the weekend has left the territory without a major active battle for the first time since a brief truce with Hamas in Nov. But by withdrawing without empowering an alternative Palestinian leadership, Israel has left behind a power vacuum in which Hamas could re-emerge as a military force. The drawdown continues a process that began in Jan and leaves the equivalent of a single brigade in all of Gaza, or fewer than 5,000 troops – down from roughly 50,000 at the height of the war in Dec.