2024-02-14 17:01:16
After inconclusive talks on a truce… the Palestinians in Rafah are frustrated
Palestinians crowded into their last shelter in the Gaza Strip expressed their growing fears today (Wednesday) that Israel will soon launch a planned attack on the city of Rafah, south of the Strip, after concluding talks in Cairo on a truce without achieving a breakthrough, according to Reuters.
The talks that took place in Cairo, in which the United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar participated, ended without any indication of a breakthrough yesterday (Tuesday) and no date was announced for the next meeting.
The failure to reach an agreement dealt a new blow to more than a million Palestinians crowded into Rafah on the border with Egypt, where many live in camps and temporary shelters after fleeing Israeli bombing elsewhere in Gaza.
The Israeli army says it wants to expel Palestinian militants from their hideouts in Rafah and free the Israeli hostages held there since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, but it did not provide details about a proposed plan to evacuate civilians.
Displaced Palestinians gather their belongings to leave the Rafah camp in the southern Gaza Strip (EPA)
Saeed Jaber, a businessman from Gaza who lives in Rafah with his family, told Reuters via a messaging application: “The news was disappointing. We were hoping that there would be a deal in Cairo. Now I found that we have started counting down to the invasion of Israeli tanks. God willing, it will not happen, of course.” But who can stop them?
He added: “We lost our homes and businesses. Isn’t that enough? Enough war. We still need dozens of years to rebuild Gaza and get our lives back again.”
In the latest international call to Israel to stop the attack on Rafah, the World Health Organization warned against pushing the health system in the Strip closer to the brink of abyss.
Richard Peppercorn, the representative of the World Health Organization in Gaza and the West Bank, said: “Military operations in this region, this densely populated area, will of course be an unimaginable catastrophe… and will even increase the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe beyond imagination.”
Israel says it is taking steps to reduce civilian casualties to a minimum and accuses Hamas fighters of infiltrating civilians, including in hospitals and shelters, which Hamas denies.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is expected to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, said that any Israeli military attack on Rafah would “completely jeopardize the humanitarian situation.”
She said in a statement issued in Berlin: “Because the people in Rafah cannot simply evaporate into the air. They need safe places and safe passages to avoid getting caught in the crossfire further. They need more humanitarian aid. “They need a ceasefire.”
Bombing during the night
Palestinian witnesses said that Israeli forces bombed areas east of Rafah during the night.
The Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run sector explained that Israeli forces continue to isolate the two main hospitals in Khan Yunis, and that sniper bullets targeting Nasser Hospital in the city killed and wounded a large number in the past few days.
One of the doctors, speaking in a video clip from inside Nasser Hospital, indicated that the hospital has been under siege by Israeli forces for 22 days, and that bulldozers protected by tanks demolished the northern gate of the hospital.
Dr. Haitham Ahmed said in the video clip, which Reuters has not yet been able to verify, “There are cases of panic, especially after we woke up this morning to violent bombing, violent explosions, and severe clashes in the northern area of the hospital. “It is scary and there is little food.”
Rafah is adjacent to the Egyptian border, but Cairo has made clear that it will not allow mass exodus across the border.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Wednesday that at least 28,576 Palestinians were killed and 68,291 others were injured in the Israeli campaign on the Strip since October 7.
The ministry’s statement added that during the past 24 hours, 103 Palestinians were killed and 145 others were injured.
Many others are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the densely populated Gaza Strip, much of which is in ruins. Supplies of food, water and other necessities are running low, and diseases are spreading.
Israeli statistics indicate that at least 1,200 Israelis were killed and about 250 hostages were taken in the attack launched by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7.
Erdogan in Egypt
The war in Gaza has raised fears that the conflict will expand across the Middle East and has increased tensions along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it responded to the firing of cross-border rockets from Lebanon, which injured seven people in northern Israel. A security source in Lebanon said that the Israeli strikes had already hit at least three towns in southern Lebanon, but he did not give details about any damage or casualties. There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Sisi meets Erdogan on the sidelines of the Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh last November (Egyptian Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to discuss the war in the Gaza Strip during his first visit to Egypt in more than ten years today.
The Turkish President began his visit to Cairo one day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with CIA Director William Burns and the Qatari Prime Minister during talks that took place yesterday, Tuesday, with the aim of reaching a truce agreement in Gaza, protecting civilians, and delivering more aid to the Strip, according to the General Authority. For Egyptian inquiries about a presidential statement.
The statement explained that “it was confirmed that intensive consultation and coordination will continue” on the main issues, indicating that no progress has been achieved.
The statement did not contain any reference to Israel. Reuters said that the Israeli delegation left Cairo to return to its country. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
A source familiar with the talks described them as “good” and said that the two sides agreed to continue discussions, but he refused to specify the location and date of the new round of talks.
A Palestinian official said that Egypt and Qatar will continue to talk to the warring parties separately.
The official pointed out that “there is no choice but to continue efforts to stop this war. This is a shared position by both Egypt and Qatar and is also supported by the United States,” calling on Israel to soften its position.
Israel pledged to continue fighting until the elimination of Hamas and the return of all hostages. Hamas says that Israel must commit to ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza.
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