Chao News client reporter Tu Chenxin.
On 28 February, Israeli forces launched a military operation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jill Cohen Magen).
Crowds at the pick-up points were encountered, refugee camps were hit by air strikes, and residential buildings were bombed......Day after day, the tragedy of bloodshed and hunger unfolds in the suffering land of Gaza. On the 3rd, a new round of negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza began, and the eyes of the international community focused on Cairo, the capital of Egypt, hoping that the dawn of peace would come at an early date.
According to the CCTV news client, on the evening of the 3rd local time, the Hamas delegation and the mediators related to the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip (the United States and Egypt) ended the first day of negotiations. According to Israeli media reports, the Israeli side refused to send a delegation to participate in the talks on the 3rd.
This time, Hamas sent a delegation to Cairo led by high-level leader Khalil Haya. Israel** said that because Hamas refused to provide the "complete list of currently surviving Israeli detainees" requested by Israel, Israel refused to send a delegation to participate in the negotiations.
Palestinian children stand in the rubble following Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on 22 February. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
The latest framework includes a six-week ceasefire, with Hamas releasing 42 "vulnerable hostages," including the sick, the wounded, the elderly, and women, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The Associated Press quoted the United States as saying that Israel had basically agreed to the framework of the proposed ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza, and now "the ball is on Hamas's side."
Senior Hamas ** told AFP on the 3rd that if Israel agrees to Hamas's demands, including allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza and increasing humanitarian aid, Gaza may achieve a ceasefire within "24 to 48 hours". The ** added that Hamas requires "at least 400 to 500 trucks a day" carrying food, medicine and fuel into Gaza.
Is there any hope that the two sides will reach a ceasefire agreement before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as the international community expects? What calculations did the United States begin to airdrop food on the Gaza Strip? Can Israel's excessive use of force be stopped? The Chao News reporter invited Yu Guoqing, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to analyze them for you one by one.
On 28 February, Israeli forces launched a military operation in Khan Younis. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jill Cohen Magen).
Both sides are in a state of "suffocation" and are in urgent need of "oxygen".
If an agreement is reached, it will be the second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7 last year. A ceasefire agreement was reached at the end of November last year, and Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinians held by Israel. According to Israel, some 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but not all of them have survived.
Representatives of Hamas and Israel had previously refused to meet. If they meet directly, they will definitely need the presence of third parties such as the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. Yu Guoqing believes that although it has been reported that Israel and Hamas may reach an agreement before the arrival of Muslim Ramadan, there are still variables.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas's Politburo, said that Hamas is willing to continue negotiations with Israel through intermediaries if a ceasefire agreement is reached, Sputnik news agency reported. He said that the immediate priority was the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, the provision of humanitarian assistance and the release of the detainees, after which negotiations could continue through intermediaries. But at the same time, he pointed out that this is not what Israel wants, because it does not want Palestinian statehood.
Yu Guoqing told Chao News reporters that the main differences between Hamas and Israel in the previous negotiations are that Israel emphasizes that the ceasefire is only temporary, and it cannot be ruled out that it will continue to attack Hamas's vocal forces, leaders, and military capabilities and facilities in Rafah and other places; Hamas, for its part, stressed that for a permanent ceasefire, Israeli forces must withdraw from Gaza.
The terms and opinions of the two sides may be coordinated by the parties to 'neutralize' and 'narrow' the gap, each waiving some conditions, and the two sides are currently at a critical stage of reaching an agreement, and a ceasefire can give both sides a breather. Yu Guoqing stressed that the current situation between Palestine and Israel is in fact in a state of "suffocation", and both sides are in a difficult situation and need to "breathe oxygen."
According to Reuters, the Israeli economy has been hit hard due to military operations in Gaza, and the country shrank by 19 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from the previous quarter4%。
Recently, there have been many demonstrations in Israel, with people demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and new elections be held, demanding the release of detainees in the Gaza Strip, and criticizing the way the conflict with Hamas has been handled. Demonstrators also clashed with police, several people**.
On 27 February, three Jordanian Air Force aircraft and one each from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France airdropped relief supplies to Gaza. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
For the first time, the United States airdropped relief supplies in Gaza, which was accused of "showmanship".
In the midst of the condemnation, the United States, which has always "strongly supported" Israel, is under tremendous pressure and has decided to airdrop supplies to Gaza.
On the 2nd, the United States airdropped food in the Gaza Strip for the first time, and three C-130 military transport planes airdropped 66 bundles of about 3 along the coastline of southwest Gaza80,000 servings of food, but no water and no medical supplies.
This move has sparked criticism from many outside parties, and it has been accused of "taking pictures for a show". An anonymous U.S.** said the airdrop was not coordinated with any groups on the ground in Gaza. He also said that the United States plans to continue airdropping supplies to Gaza in the coming days.
Some experts commented that the high cost, small amount of aid, poor accuracy and high danger of airdrops will not have a meaningful impact on the current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, but will create new problems.
The U.S. airdrop is mainly a show, and its political purpose is to show the outside world that it also cares about the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians. At the same time, the American people expressed strong dissatisfaction with the indifferent attitude of the United States to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, and the United States also made this move to alleviate this accusation; Third, to show Israel that the United States does not fully support its current 'food aid controls' in Gaza. Yu Guoqing analyzed.
More critics have pointed the finger at U.S.-Israel relations, arguing that Biden's posture masks his unwillingness to use U.S. influence to force Israel to be more cooperative in the delivery of humanitarian aid.
February 28, Khan Younis Nasser Hospital. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
If the United States does not stop Israel even though it has the "trump card" in its hand, will it be unable or unwilling?
Since the outbreak of the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Israeli army has been creating appalling incidents in the Gaza Strip. According to the latest data from Hamas's Ministry of Health, the conflict has claimed 30,320 lives, most of them civilians, in the Gaza Strip in the past five months. According to the United Nations, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, with 2.2 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants facing the threat of famine.
On February 29, local time, at least 118 people were killed and 760 injured in an attack on a relief supply collection point in Gaza City while distributing food. The Palestinian side condemned the Israeli army's deliberate attack on civilians, while the Israeli side denied and argued that most of the ** were caused by "civilians scrambling for materials and running over vehicles", and also said that the Israeli army fired warning shots to disperse "looting materials" rather than attacking civilians. CNN and Reuters rarely called this incident a "big **" carnage).
Israel's excessive use of force has long caused global outrage, and the condemnation has been rising wave after wave, but Israel and the army have always gone their own way. Obviously Israel is heavily dependent on the United States for military operations, so why doesn't the United States use this to stop it? Can't or don't want to?
The United States is not currently willing to exert 'maximum pressure' on Israel, but it should gradually increase the pressure. In Yu Guoqing's view, in the end, Israel should be afraid of the United States' restrictions on Israeli military and economic aid, but on the whole, the United States' strong political support for Israel will not waver.
*Please indicate the source".