Conflicts & War

Netanyahu rejects Hamas truce deal as ‘still absurd,’ approves plan for Rafah operation

Jerusalem, Mar 15 (EFE) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down on Thursday in Tel Aviv the latest truce draft proposed by Hamas, saying the Islamists’ demands were “still absurd,” and approved the Israel Defense Forces plan for a feared ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but said he would send Israeli delegates to Qatar to continue truce efforts.

Hamas on Thursday gave mediators its first formal counterproposal that would free dozens of Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, a weeks-long cease-fire that would allow in aid, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from parts of Gaza and talks at a later stage on ending the war.

Hamas is no longer demanding an immediate and permanent cease-fire in order to begin an exchange of hostages and prisoners.

“Hamas’ demands remain absurd,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a terse statement released Friday, which also announced that he had approved a military plan drawn up by the army to invade Rafah in southern Gaza, where 1.4 million people live in dire conditions.

Netanyahu “approved the plans of action in Rafah” and the Israeli army is preparing for the operational part and for “the evacuation of the population,” the text said, without providing details on how Israel would evacuate and protect such a large number of civilians during a ground assault.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he had not seen a clear and actionable plan for Rafah, including how civilians would be moved out of harm’s way.

The United States and all Western powers have urged Israel not to enter Rafah, the last point in southern Gaza where civilians displaced by Israeli orders from the north are sheltering.

It is expected, Netanyahu announced, that an Israeli delegation will travel to Doha to continue negotiations for a possible cease-fire.

The Hamas proposal Netanyahu’s rejection comes after Qatari mediators delivered a Hamas proposal around midnight Thursday.

According to sources in Cairo familiar with the draft, in the first phase of the agreement, all “women, children, the sick and the elderly” kidnapped Israelis would be released in exchange for between 700 and 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

In addition, in this first phase – which would last about 40 days – “female soldiers” held captive and about a hundred Palestinian prisoners sentenced to “life imprisonment” would also be released.

The end of this first phase, according to the sources, would lead to a permanent cease-fire with the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip, in order for Hamas to agree to the release of the remaining captive soldiers.

After that, an extensive reconstruction process of a devastated territory were 23 million tons of rubble and “unexploded weapons” scattered throughout the enclave, as was denounced Friday the UN agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which said it will take “years” to turn it into a safe place.

Hamas’ representative in Beirut, Ahmed Abdel Hadi, said on Friday: “We stress a permanent cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal, the removal of the effects of the aggression and the return of the displaced. These are the conditions for reaching an agreement.”

Nearly 31,500 people have already died in Gaza, more than 72% of them women and children, and about 73,400 have been wounded, according to health data. EFE

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