Ceasefire talks in Gaza end without results

2024-02-13 21:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Talks involving the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza ended on Tuesday without a significant result. Meanwhile, there have been increased calls for Israel to stop the planned offensive in the southern part of the territory, where more than 1 million displaced people are already concentrated.

The town of Rafah, which had a population of 300,000 before the war, is now overrun with homeless people living in tents after fleeing Israeli bombardment further north in Gaza during the four-month war.

The talks took place in Egypt a day after Israeli forces freed two hostages in Rafah, the overcrowded town along the border with Egypt, in an operation that killed at least 74 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and caused widespread destruction. This operation provided an initial glimpse of what a full ground offensive would look like.

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On the other hand, a ceasefire agreement would give the people of Gaza much-needed relief from the cessation of fighting, which is now in its fifth month, and would allow the release of about 100 people still being held hostage in Gaza. Qatar, the United States and Egypt have tried to broker a deal, despite the widely divergent positions publicly expressed by Israel and Hamas.

Israel says the objective of the war is the destruction of Hamas's governing and military capacities, as well as the release of hostages. The war began after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking around 250 hostages. Tens of thousands of Israelis were displaced from devastated communities.

The war has brought unprecedented devastation to the Gaza Strip, with more than 28,000 people killed, more than 70% of them women and children, Gaza health authorities said. Large parts of the territory have been devastated by the Israeli offensive, about 80% of the population is displaced and the catastrophic humanitarian situation has plunged more than a quarter of the population into starvation.

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Also, South Africa, which accuses Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, announced on Tuesday that it has filed "an urgent request" for the court to examine whether Israeli military operations in Rafah are in violation of interim court orders issued last month. past. These orders called on Israel to take greater measures to spare civilian lives.

Israel strongly denies the accusations of genocide and says the operations are in accordance with international law. Israel blames Hamas for the high level of casualties because the militants operate in densely populated residential areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep up the pressure until "total victory" and insists that military pressure will help free the hostages. But the two rescued hostages, 60-year-old Fernando Marman and 70-year-old Louis Har, are only two of the three hostages released so far by the Israeli military since the start of the war.

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A senior Egyptian official had initially said that mediators had made "relatively significant" progress. The official said the meeting would focus on drawing up "a final draft" that envisages a six-week ceasefire, with assurances that the parties will continue negotiations with the aim of achieving a full ceasefire.

The head of the CIA, William Burns, and the head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, attended the meeting in Cairo. The two officials played a key role in achieving the previous ceasefire./ VOA