CAIRO/JERUSALEM July 7 (Reuters) – Any Gaza ceasefire resolution must allow Israel to continue fighting until its goals are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, aiming to end the nine-month-old war. Talks have begun on an American plan. Restart is anticipated.
Five days after Hamas approved a key part of the plan, two officials from the Palestinian militant group said the crowd was expecting Israel’s reaction to its untouched proposal.
Netanyahu was called to consultations late on Sunday in the final phase of talks on the three-phase plan, which was proposed by US President Joe Biden in May and is being brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
Its goal is to end the war and free about 120 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas has made a significant call for Israel to first decide on a permanent ceasefire before signing any contract. Rather, it said it would allow negotiations to reach it during a first phase of six weeks, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity.
However, Netanyahu said he stressed that the resolution should no longer prevent Israel from starting a war until its war goals are met. The basic objectives of the battle were stated to be to destroy Hamas forces and regime facilities, in addition to returning the hostages.
“The plan that Israel has agreed to and that President Biden has welcomed will allow Israel to return the hostages without violating the other objectives of the war,” Netanyahu said.
The resolution should also oppose arms smuggling to Hamas through the Gaza-Egypt border and not allow thousands of armed militants to return to northern Gaza, he said.
William Burns, director of the US Central Knowledge Company, is due to meet with Qatar’s prime minister and Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs in Doha on Wednesday, said a source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified further.
Egypt’s Al Qahera Information TV on Sunday cited a high-ranking source as saying that Burns is expected to discuss this life with the Israeli delegation to Cairo.
A Palestinian representative attending the talks said that if accepted by Israel the proposal could turn into a framework agreement, and the conflict would end.
“We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear from the occupier,” one of the two Hamas officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another Palestinian official with knowledge of the ceasefire discussions said Israel was in talks with the Qataris and a response was expected within days.
protests in israel
In Israel, protesters took to the streets across the country to pressure the federal government to comply with the Gaza ceasefire proposal, allowing the return of hostages still held in Gaza.
They stopped rush-hour traffic at major intersections across the country, picketed the homes of politicians and set fire to tires on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way.
In Gaza, Palestinian state officials said at least 15 people had been killed in Israeli action.
Among them were Hamas-appointed deputy labor minister Ehab al-Ghussein, whose wife and children were killed in May, and three others who sheltered families in a crash at a church-run school in western Gaza City. Countries had died. , Hamas media and civilian disaster management were cited.
The Israeli military said it then took steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians there, adding that it attacked militants who were hiding at the university, as well as a facility in the neighborhood where guns were being made.
On the southern Gaza border with Egypt, in the central and northern areas of Rafah, Israeli tanks intensified their attacks. State officials there said they had recovered three bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli firing in the eastern part of the city.
Hamas and the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an allied militant group, said fighters had attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs at several locations in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said its forces had killed 30 Palestinian gunmen in Rafah in the current incident, and one of its soldiers was killed in the battle.
In Shejaiya, an eastern suburb of Gaza Town, the army said its forces had killed several gunmen, and also recovered guns and explosives. It published a drone video showing gunmen at one location, some of whom appeared injured or dead.
Reuters may not immediately investigate the video.
The conflict began on October 7 when fighters led by Hamas, which controls Gaza, attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
According to Gaza state officials, more than 38,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s military offensive, and the coastal area was largely reduced to debris.
Gaza’s State Ministry does not distinguish between opponents and non-combatants, but officials say the majority of those killed during the war were civilians. Israel has lost 324 soldiers in Gaza, and it says at least a third of the Palestinians killed are fighters.
(Additional reporting via Hatem Maher and Jonathan Landay; enhancements via Sharon Singleton, Frances Carey, Peter Graff and Jan Harvey)
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