Al Arabiya: Israel has not responded to Hamas’ proposal for a long-term truce

Israel offered the Hamas movement a ceasefire in exchange for the release of all hostages and the release of the bodies of dead citizens of the Jewish state from Gaza. The channel reports this Al Arabiya with reference to sources.

According to sources, Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar and Egypt, are negotiating the release of the hostages.

“Israel offered a ceasefire in exchange for the release of all hostages and the transfer of the bodies of the dead Israelis”the message says.

It is emphasized that Hamas rejected this proposal from the Israeli side and also demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.

In addition, it is reported that Hamas asked for a long-term truce, but representatives of the Jewish state refused to respond to this proposal.

On October 7, a massive missile strike was launched against Israel. The Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas announced its Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. In response, Israel launched the counter-terrorism Operation Iron Swords.

Within a week, the Israeli army was put on alert. The IDF began launching large-scale retaliatory missile strikes. On October 14, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the next stage of the operation in the Gaza Strip, which has not yet taken place.

On the morning of October 15, Israel opened a humanitarian corridor in the Gaza Strip for three hours to allow civilians to move to the south of the enclave. Near the border of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has assembled a huge strike force. The situation with humanitarian aid to the residents of the enclave remains difficult. The Rafah checkpoint was opened only once, and only 20 trucks passed through it. At present, no agreement has been reached on the evacuation of the wounded from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, or on the opening of the border to the entry of foreign citizens.

Shelling of Israeli cities also continues from Gaza. Thus, strikes were carried out on Tel Aviv and its suburbs, and Sderot came under fire. One person was killed when the town of Shtula was shelled from the Lebanese side.

On October 17, it became known about an attack on a hospital in Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning. The strike killed more than 400 people. The head of the Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip announced a lack of beds for the wounded and a critical situation. Shortly thereafter, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed creating an international coalition to fight Hamas.

On October 18, US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel. However, instead of trying to end the conflict, he unconditionally supported the actions of the Netanyahu government and the IDF. Palestinian Legislative Council member Mustafa Barghouti called Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv a disastrous mistake, pushing the IDF towards a ground invasion.

On the evening of October 23, Hamas released two elderly hostages – Israelis Nurit Yitzhak-Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz. Previously, the organization released several US citizens. At the same time, employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that they had agreed to the release of about 50 hostages with dual citizenship. According to the Russian embassy, ​​two Russian citizens are being held captive by Hamas, but their location could not be determined.

After this, at an open debate of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki accused the organization of an inexcusable failure to resolve the conflict. Previously, the Security Council did not adopt a draft resolution on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, developed by Russia. As Vasily Nebenzya, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the organization, noted, the reason for this is that the West is opposed to supporting the initiative put forward by our country. Later, the United States also vetoed the draft resolution developed by Brazil. At the same time, according to sources REN TV, Washington sent its own version of the document to the UN, which does not contain a call for a ceasefire. Nebenzya said that Russia will not support the project precisely because of the lack of this call.

On October 25, Israel began denying visas to UN representatives. The reason was the words of the organization’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who condemned the Hamas attacks, but called for remembering that they did not occur without reason, but because of the “suffocating” occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. After this, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called on the secretary general to resign, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Guterres of “justifying terrorism” and having a biased position.

On October 26, it became known that representatives of the Palestinian Hamas movement were visiting Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry diplomats at a meeting with Hamas discussed the evacuation of Russian citizens from the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages. On October 27, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani held a meeting in Moscow with Hamas Politburo member Musa Abu Marzouk, dedicated to the worsening of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.