As heavy fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, the terrorist organization Hamas has presented a three-phase plan for a ceasefire with Israel. In the first phase, indirect talks will take place and the first hostages will be released.
With the plan, Hamas responded to mediation attempts by Qatar and Egypt. Their aim is to end Israel’s military operation, according to the draft, which was made available to Reuters news agency on Wednesday. In addition, hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip will be rebuilt.
Release of all hostages planned in the second phase
Indirect discussions will take place in an initial phase of 45 days. Israeli troops must be withdrawn from populated areas. Some civilian hostages will be released in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. In a second phase, all remaining hostages must be released – again in exchange for the release of the Palestinians – and the Israeli army must withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip. In a third phase of 45 days, the dead will be exchanged.
Khan Younis attacked with paratroopers
The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that “armed terrorist cells” had been eliminated and numerous weapons seized in response to the fighting in Khan Younis. “Israeli paratroopers have killed dozens of terrorists in Khan Younis over the past 24 hours,” the statement said. The UN emergency agency OCHA, in turn, reported “intense Israeli bombardments from the air, on the ground and from the sea in large parts of the Gaza Strip, especially in and around Khan Younis.”
In an incident in western Khan Younis, Israeli soldiers encountered three gunmen who fired anti-tank missiles at them, the army said. The three men and “several other terrorists were killed” in hand-to-hand combat. Large quantities of weapons were also found in the southern Gaza Strip city and additional tunnel shafts were uncovered. Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also described an attack on Israeli soldiers in western Khan Younis on Wednesday.
At least 27,585 people have been killed in the area since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip Health Authority. According to UN estimates, three-quarters of the Gaza Strip’s approximately 2.2 million residents had to flee their homes during the war.
Saudi Arabia is pushing for a Palestinian state
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia told the US that there would be no diplomatic relations with Israel without recognizing an independent Palestinian state. The country demands that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital be recognized and that “Israeli aggression” against the Gaza Strip must stop, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The borders must therefore correspond to the 1967 borders.
Jordan, which annexed the West Bank after the first Israeli-Arab war in 1948, relinquished territories occupied by Israel since 1967 in 1988. In November of the same year, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Algiers declared a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital.
Source: Krone
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