Israeli military admitted to the fault of 2 deadly strikes in central Gaza
The Joint Israeli-Middle Eastern and Gazan Plan for a Comprehensive Solution of the Israeli-Palestinian Interaction in the Gaza Strip
The revised version of the proposal was presented to the Palestinians in the West Bank by Egyptian officials late Tuesday, and a meeting was set for Egypt in the coming days to discuss it further. A source close to the talks said Hamas and Islamic Jihad were in favor of the outlines of the proposal.
Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip flee their homes for their lives each time Israel bombards their towns and cities with strikes and forces advance their ground invasion.
An Israeli official said that Israel’s war cabinet discussed the initial Egyptian proposal late Monday, after it had been publicly reported on by several news organizations, adding to the public pressure Israel faces to wind down the current phase of the war due to the high civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
In the first stage, lasting 10 days, there would be a complete cessation of hostilities by both Israel and Hamas. Hamas would release all civilians in its possession and Israel would release a mutually agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces would withdraw from residential areas in Gaza, allowing people to move from south to north, as well as moving vehicles and trucks. It would also allow freedom of entry for humanitarian aid, including medicines, medical supplies, fuel and food to all areas of Gaza.
Israel is not certain if it will negotiate based on this proposal. Previous negotiations have been led by Qatar, which helped broker a week-long cease-fire in late November that led to the exchange of 105 hostages held by Hamas for some 240 Palestinians in Israeli jails.
The part of the plan that was supposed to include the future Palestinian leadership has not been included in the latest version of the proposal.
Hamas did not reject the latest proposal entirely, though it had received initiatives and proposals for a permanent truce.
“Our people do not await temporary truces that the occupation violates with further massacres and heinous war crimes against civilians and the innocent,” the Islamist militant group said.
The Israeli Emergency Services in Gaza During the Siege of 2008-2009: Dialogue with the Palestinians and Inquiry with the United States
The latest diplomatic efforts came as Gaza was recovering from yet another communications blackout. The primary provider there stated that the internet and cell phone had been out for an extended period. The company said that the damage resulted in service interruption.
The siege of Gaza has left large parts of the Palestinian enclave homeless and exposed millions to the elements, and has caused a public health disaster.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming more dire by the moment, according to a spokeswoman for the UN Relief and Works Agency.
With the rainy season, everything from warm clothes to blankets is available. But most urgently is food and water and I think above all is protection and safety,” Touma said.
“They threatened the entire block around us, even the new camp, even the market street — all of it they threatened,” she said. “They dropped leaflets ordering us to leave within three days. So we had to come here.”
At the Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, a mother of five said that she and 20 members of her extended family had arrived there the previous day. Since the war started, the family, including a baby, have been forced to flee.
But Israel has routinely used 2,000-pound bombs — one of the biggest and most destructive supplied by the United States — in densely populated areas in southern Gaza where civilians were told to move for safety, according to an analysis of the visual evidence by The New York Times.
The agency said that it was forced to move again. Forced displacement arises when the Israeli authorities in middle Gaza order the vacating of the area. Over 150,000 people — young children, women carrying babies, people with disabilities & the elderly — have nowhere to go.”
“God willing this will be the last time we are displaced,” said Mr. Hassan, 22, a taxi driver. The family lost all their possessions the first time they fled.
In its latest evacuation orders, Israel instructed people to move immediately to shelters that, the U.N. says, can barely hold the several hundred thousand people already there.
Israel has said it is addressing the humanitarian concerns, including those voiced by the United States. A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, said on social media that in an effort to help Gazans understand the evacuation directives, they had published maps divided into grids “in order to preserve your security and safety.”
They settled in a tent in the nearby Nuseirat area, where tens of thousands of Palestinians forced by Israel’s air and ground offensive had also fled and were finding what shelter they could in overcrowded schools, ramshackle tents or even out in the streets.
When Samir Hassan and his surviving family members fled their home in the town of Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip weeks ago, they did so under intense Israeli airstrikes, which killed a number of family members, including an uncle, and severely injured his brother.
