Correspondent
The White House envoy, Steve Witkoff, is in Qatar to join the indirect conversations between Israel and Hamas about the extension of fragile truck in Gaza.
This week, negotiators on both sides started with the mediators for the first time when President Donald Trump took office on January 20th. The first phase of the Gaza Agreement and the temporary truce came into force on the eve of his inauguration.
This first phase was eventually returned by Hamas 25 who live in Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others – in exchange for about 1800 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel – as well as five living Thai hostages. It ended on March 1.
Israel is now hoping that the US will be able to improve a plan for a two -month extension of the ceasefire, which would start to release about half of the living hostages still holding.
Hamas has so far rejected that, demanding direct conversations on the second phase, it is in the original dedication agreement, which will end the war and lead to the full withdrawal of the Israeli unit.
However, it stated that he approaches liquid discussions in Doha with “full liability and positivity.”
From the beginning of this month, Israel has blocked all help delivery – including food and fuel – in gauzesaying that he aims to pressure the hams.
The electricity is also cut to the only desalinization plant in the territory that provides pure waterSo now it works with reduced capacity on generators using fuel reserves.
In response, the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Tuesday that he would restart the attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and the Aden Bay, threatening to once again throw a key naval route in chaos.
The alarm is growing because of the potential influence of Israel that blocks the goods on Gaza, with some of its allies warning that it could violate international law.
A local humanitarian UN coordinator, Muhannad Hadi, said: “Any further delay [on aid entering] Any reversal of any progress we were able to achieve during the truce. “
“Please get rid of these things urgently,” said Pekar, Husram Rusta, for the BBC.
With stopping the stock of flour and gas cooking, he said that his bakery – which provided more than 2,000 bread packets a day – was forced to close, as well as several others in the southern city of Khan Younis.
“We are exhausted and tired of all this. It drives us crazy,” said Zeinab Al-Bayuk, Grandma. She added that food prices are growing fast.
Mariam Abu Mukhimer, a student, opposed the extension of an existing truce. “There should be a solution that ends the war,” she said. “It’s enough!”
Now they have never confirmed this, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 2. Witkoff suggested a temporary extension of the ceasefire until after the Islamic Holy Month of Ramadan and the Jewish rest of Passover.
According to this plan, which Netanyahua said to have accepted Israel, half of the hostages will be released together at the beginning and the other half at the end.
The Prime Minister suggested that Witkoff “even defined his proposal as a hallway for negotiations in the second phase. Israel is ready for that.”
Hamas is believed to still hold up to 24 live hostages in Gaza and the remains of 35 others. The American-Israeli soldier, 21-year-old Edan Alexander, is among those who are said to be alive. There are also the bodies of four other American citizens.
Hamas accused Israel of having an original dedication agreement.
Despite the pressure of regional mediators – Qatar and Egypt – as the US, it is considered unlikely that the armed group will give up many hostages without the complete end of the fight in Gaza. He sees them as his main negotiating chips in conversations.
For the relatives and supporters of the Israelites, they kept it trapped, these are desperate times.
Since Saturday, some are camping outside the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv to demand the immediate contract for the bulldown of Gaza, which would liberate everything in captivity.
“How can I start processing our personal tragedy when the national trauma is not over yet?” said Ofri Bibas, sister of Yarden Bibas, at a protest on Monday night.
Recent exchanges with Hamas led to her brother’s release and The return of her sister’s body, shiri and two young nephews, Ariel and Kfir, who were killed in Gaza.
“I have 59 brothers and sisters who are in hell,” Ofri continued – referring to the total remaining number of hostages. “We got Yarden alive, but Shiri and the kids could have saved themselves. Passover everyone has to be home, and the only way for everyone to return is to end the war. Now.”
The Israeli TV Channel 13 survey indicates that half of the Israelites believe that the US president is more concerned about the fate of the hostage than Netanyahu.
Asked which of the two thought was more concerned, 50% of respondents said Trump, 29% Netanyahu, and the others were not sure.
The ultimate right of the prime minister has threatened to overthrow their control coalition if the struggle does not continue in Gaza to achieve its goal of the demolition of Hamas.
So far, Israel and Hamas have mostly refrained from returning to Sven hostility in Palestinian territory.
However, recently Israel has made everyday strikes. On Tuesday, four men were killed in Wadi Gazi, who is also known as the Netzarim corridor – an area from which the Israeli forces retreated as part of the term to interrupt the fire in Gaza.
The Israeli army announced that his air forces were targeting “several terrorists involved in suspicious activities representing a threat [Israeli] troops”.
In an interview with the BBC in the city of Gazi, the father of one of the killed, Arafat Han, said his son Omar did nothing wrong.
He said he was with his neighbors walking to the detainee of the displaced people where they had previously remained to find things.
“They were innocent. They just got mattresses and other things. They didn’t wear rockets!” said Umm Tareq Obaid, who lived near men.
New threats of Houthis can end the period of relative calm in the wider region that began with a gauze on January 19th.
During the 15 months of November 2023. They used rockets and drones to attack more than 100 merchant ships, saying that they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Many vessels had nothing to do with Israel. Two sank, one was seized and four sailors were killed.
Houthini says they now want to “press the Israeli usurpation entity to re -open the transitions into the Gaza tape and allow for help to enter, including food and medical supplies.”
However, there was no immediate sign of targeted ships.
The attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, with 251 he took hostage. Most women and children who were trapped were released during a weekly trial in November 2023.
An unprecedented, deadly attack caused a war in Gaza, who has since killed more than 48,500 people, most of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas used by the UN and others.
