However, these changes are still not enough to achieve specific results, according to Reuters citing knowledgeable sources. “We have made some real progress,” US President Joe Biden confirmed to the press and expressed hope that the two sides would exchange hostages, but he also blamed Hamas for obstructing the goal. this target. And US President-elect Donald Trump warned that the price would be very high if the hostages were not released by the time he took office on January 20.
The ceasefire is very close, Israel continues to attack Gaza
A Palestinian official who knows about the negotiation effort said that the fact that no agreement has been reached so far does not mean that the negotiations are going nowhere, but on the contrary, he affirmed that this time is the most serious effort ever. “The negotiations were carried out throughout, the intermediary and the negotiating parties mentioned every word and detail. A breakthrough will come when the parties narrow the current differences, but so far it has not happened. there is an agreement,” Reuters quoted the source, who declined to provide more specific information.
Another Palestinian official confirmed there had been progress, but mentioned a new clause that the Israeli side had just added that he said could threaten ongoing efforts.
Smoke rises in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike on January 9
“However, Israel still insists on controlling a strip of land 1 km across along the eastern and southern borders of the Gaza Strip, which would prevent people from returning home and represent a withdrawal from terms that (Israel) agreed to in July 2024,” the Palestinian official said. Israel has not commented on this information.
While negotiations took place, the Israeli military continued to strike targets in Gaza. As of yesterday, Gaza health authorities said more than 46,000 people had died since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, 2023. On the same day, The Lancet published a report estimating that the number of deaths in Gaza in the first 9 months of the war was 40% higher than calculated by Gaza health authorities. The peer-reviewed report, led by the UK, gave the most accurate figure possible at 64,260 people, representing 2.9% of Gaza’s pre-conflict population, or one in every 35 people. death.
In another development in the Middle East, Ms. Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced on social networks that the bloc could begin lifting sanctions on Syria if its leaders recently in Damascus took steps to build a government to protect ethnic minorities.
