Israel, which has not only occupied the city of Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, has been preparing for a ground attack for weeks. More than 1.5 million people currently live in Rafah, which has become the last refuge for Palestinians fleeing the Israeli massacre. The city’s population before the war was only around 275 thousand.
Dozens of countries and international organizations around the world warn that the land invasion of Rafah will lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
Israel, on the other hand, warned Egypt, which neighbors Rafah, and stated that there was a last chance for a hostage exchange agreement before the land invasion. Senior Israeli officials conveyed the message to their Egyptian counterparts on Friday.
The Cairo administration has opposed the occupation of Rafah from the beginning and is concerned that it will lead to tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing the attacks and entering the border.
American outlet Axios reports that the Egyptians are pushing for a last-minute ceasefire and hostage agreement and trying to stop the Rafah occupation.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said he sees new momentum in negotiations to end the war.
Senior administrator Khalid Hayya, who announced the conditions for Hamas to disarm during the week, announced that they had received Israel’s final response to the ceasefire negotiations and that they would review it.
Making a statement from Qatar, Hamas leader Hayya stated that they received the response to the offer sent to Israel by mediators on April 13 on Saturday.
Drawing attention to the timing, international news agency AFP reported that Hamas’s statement came a day after an Egyptian delegation traveled to Israel.
Cairo News, one of the Egyptian media, wrote that the views between the Israeli side and the Egyptian delegation have converged and a noticeable progress has been made.
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip in the ceasefire negotiations that have been going on for months, wants the weapons to be silenced permanently. Occupying Israel does not accept a permanent ceasefire. One of the most sensitive topics in the ceasefire negotiations is the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
There has only been a one-week ceasefire in the war so far. In the ceasefire at the end of November, mediated by the USA, Egypt and Qatar, 80 hostages were released, while Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners held in prisons.
CHINA IS ON
On the other hand, China will host unity talks for Palestine between Hamas, which is in power in Gaza, and Fatah, its rival in the West Bank. A Fatah official said that a delegation led by the group’s senior official, Azzam Al Ahmed, was on its way to China. A Hamas official also stated that the negotiation team led by Musa Abu Marzouk will fly to China late on Friday.
“We support strengthening the powers of the Palestinian National Authority and support all Palestinian groups to reach consensus and increase solidarity through dialogue and consultation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular briefing on Friday, without confirming the meeting.
The talks are interpreted as an important step taken by China in Palestine diplomacy.
Fatah is the movement of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The two rival Palestinian factions have failed to resolve their political disagreements since Hamas fighters expelled Fatah from Gaza in a brief war in 2007.
The visit will be the first by a Hamas delegation to China since the start of the war in Gaza. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Chinese diplomat named Wang Kejian met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar last month.
China has recently increased its diplomatic influence in the Middle East, where it has strong ties with Arab countries and Iran. Last year, Beijing brokered a groundbreaking peace deal between the region’s arch-enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Chinese officials have become more defensive of the Palestinians in international forums in recent months; He called for a broader Israeli-Palestinian peace conference and a specific timetable for the implementation of a two-state solution. In February, Beijing called on the International Court of Justice to rule on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
China has recently been pushing for Palestine to join the United Nations. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week it would ‘correct a long-standing historical injustice’.
