In the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, people view buildings damaged by Israeli air strikes on March 3. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Khalid Omar).
JERUSALEM, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A new round of ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip was held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, on March 3, with representatives from the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the United States, Qatar and Egypt, but Israel did not send anyone. The future is uncertain whether a ceasefire can be achieved before Ramadan, which begins in about a week.
The current round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for nearly five months, and Hamas and Israel only briefly ceased fire for a week in November last year. With the death toll in the Gaza Strip surpassing 30,000, the international community's call for an end to the fighting has intensified. How far can progress be made in non-face-to-face negotiations between Hamas and Israel? Where are the current ceasefire negotiations stuck? Can it be stopped before Ramadan? Xinhua News Agency reporter will solve the situation for you
Israel did not send anyone.
According to Egypt's Cairo News Network, delegations from the United States, Qatar and Hamas arrived in Egypt on the 3rd to conduct a new round of negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza before Ramadan. The Israeli side did not attend.
According to a number of Israeli ** reports, Israel decided not to send a delegation for the time being after receiving Hamas's reply to the draft ceasefire agreement on the 3rd. Israel demanded that Hamas hand over the full list of detainees who are still alive, otherwise it refused to send them. Hamas is also believed to be holding about 130 people, more than 30 of whom may have died as a result of Israeli airstrikes, among other reasons. In addition to the issue of the list, the question of whether to allow the return of Gaza residents to the north is also an important point of contention between the two sides.
On key issues, the latest public statements by Israel and Hamas show no signs of backing down. Israel has insisted that it will not end its military operations until it is completely eliminated, while Hamas has said it will not release Israeli personnel until a long-term ceasefire agreement is reached. What is the definition of a ceasefire and for how long? How do I release someone? The parties are stuck on these issues.
On 28 February, Israeli forces launched a military operation in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jill Cohen Magen).
There are also divisions within Israel at the moment. According to Israel's public broadcaster, the request for Hamas to submit a list of surviving Israeli detainees was decided by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was not approved by the wartime cabinet. The wartime Cabinet did not consider this step to be a "necessary step".
Gantz, the leader of Israel's main opposition National Unity Party and a member of the wartime cabinet, will visit the United States on the 3rd without Netanyahu's approval, and will meet with US Deputy Harris and Sullivan, Assistant for Affairs, and Secretary of State Blinken. Netanyahu told Gantz that Israel "has only one prime minister," the United States reported. Gantz's visit to the United States highlighted Israel's internal contradictions and increased the pressure on Netanyahu.
The United States contradicts itself.
The U.S. policy of Gaza has shown its limits and has not been used in more effective ways to pressure Israel. For example, in the area of humanitarian assistance, the United States has tried to persuade Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, but with little success. The United States airdropped supplies to Gaza for the first time on the 2nd.
This approach has received a lot of criticism. The American newspaper Politico quoted critics as saying that the airdrop was not necessary. The United States has many ways to influence Israel, the most important of which is to reconsider military aid to Israel.
Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Institute of Middle East Studies in the United States, was quoted as saying: "It is all the more puzzling that we have decided to airdrop while continuing to send ** to the side that compels us to do so." ”
This is a photo taken on February 27 of the relief supplies airdropped into the Gaza Strip. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
The British newspaper The Guardian also quoted Brian Finuken, a former lawyer in the United States who currently works for the International Crisis Research Organization, as saying: "If the United States is unwilling to use any meaningful influence to end the Gaza conflict, it can only resort to this desperate and inadequate approach to try to solve the resulting humanitarian catastrophe on the periphery." ”
Earlier, the US had vetoed the draft resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire in the UN Security Council, which attracted a lot of criticism. In addition, the ongoing fighting has taken a toll on Biden's election campaign in the United States, so he urgently needs a ceasefire agreement to dispel voter discontent.
The week ahead is critical.
There are still a lot of differences between Hamas and Israel over a deal, but both sides want to reach an agreement before Ramadan. Jonatan Freeman, an expert on international relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told Xinhua that a ceasefire before Ramadan is possible, but it depends on whether the Israeli ceasefire can be exchanged for "the release of a large number of hostages" and whether the two sides can agree on a definition of a ceasefire.
Egypt's Prime Minister Shoukry said on March 1 that Egypt is working with Qatar, the United States and others to broker a "ceasefire and exchange of hostages" before Ramadan begins.
People inspect trucks attacked by Israeli forces in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Ballah on March 3. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
The current negotiations in Egypt can take place in Israel's absence. In an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera, a Hamas source said that Hamas does not care whether Israel sends a delegation to Cairo for negotiations, and mainly consults with Egypt and Qatar. Hamas and Israel refused to negotiate face-to-face, and Egypt and Qatar "passed the word".
The United States criticized Israel on the 3rd for not doing enough to alleviate the "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Gaza Strip and called for an "immediate ceasefire". According to Axios News**, Biden has begun to seek to put pressure on Hamas's side through Egypt and Qatar in an attempt to soften its stance. (Reporter: Liu Weijian, Lv Yingxu, Wang Hongbin; Editors: Wang Fengfeng, Chen Dan, Chen Lixi).