White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Saturday (15) that mediators from Qatar and Egypt plan to involve Hamas in an attempt to move forward with a proposed ceasefire in Gaza soon. The plan was released by the President of the United States, Joe Biden.
Sullivan spoke to reporters during the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland and was asked about diplomatic efforts to reach a Hamas hostage release agreement and an Israeli ceasefire that lasts at least six weeks.
The White House adviser said he spoke briefly with one of the main interlocutors, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and that they would speak again about Gaza on Sunday (16), while they are both in Switzerland for the conference in Ukraine.
Hamas says it welcomed the ceasefire proposal but with a series of reservations, and insists that any agreement must guarantee an end to the war, a demand that Israel still rejects.
Sullivan said U.S. officials closely reviewed Hamas’ response.
“We believe that some of the proposed issues are not unexpected and can be managed. Some of them are inconsistent with both what President Biden has laid out and what the UN Security Council has endorsed. And we are having to deal with this reality,” he said.
Sullivan also stated that US officials believe there is still a path to an agreement and that the next step will be for Qatari and Egyptian mediators to talk to Hamas and “analyze what can and cannot really be worked on.”
Protests take place in Tel Aviv
Thousands of Israelis joined the families of hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza in a demonstration in Tel Aviv this Saturday (15). Protesters demand an immediate ceasefire on both sides to secure the release of prisoners.
The protests have become weekly events, underscoring divisions in Israeli society that have reopened after a period of unity at the start of the war.
A protester paid tribute to 8 Israeli soldiers who the Israeli military said were killed in southern Gaza, as forces continued to advance in and around the southern city of Rafah. The attacks hit several areas of Gaza, killing at least 19 Palestinians.
These latest deaths bring the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza to more than 300.
The episode could worsen the political situation facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a week after former general Benny Gantz left the government, accusing Netanyahu of not having an adequate strategy for Gaza.
Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to stop the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the war began in October, with almost daily cross-border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. intensifying.
At least 37,296 Palestinians, at least 30 in the last 24 hours, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign to eliminate Hamas, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Source: CNN Brasil
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