By James Mackenzie and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to as on Monday for a last push for a Gaza ceasefire earlier than President Joe Biden leaves workplace, after a Hamas official instructed Reuters the group had cleared a listing of 34 hostages as first to go free underneath a truce.
“We very a lot need to deliver this over the end line within the subsequent two weeks, the time we’ve got remaining,” Blinken instructed a information convention in South Korea, when requested whether or not a ceasefire deal was shut.
Israel has despatched a group of mid-ranking officers to Qatar for talks brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Some Arabic media stories stated David Barnea, the top of Mossad, who has been main negotiations, was anticipated to affix them. The Israeli prime minister’s workplace didn’t remark.
It stays unclear how shut the 2 sides stay, with some indicators of motion however little indication of a shift in a few of the key calls for which have to this point blocked any truce for greater than a yr.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has stated there can be “hell to pay” within the Center East if hostages held by Hamas weren’t freed earlier than his inauguration on Jan. 20, now seen within the area as an unofficial deadline for a truce deal.
In accordance with Gaza well being officers, almost 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza. The assault was launched after Hamas fighters stormed Israeli territory in October 2023, killing 1,200 individuals and capturing greater than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
Greater than 100 hostages are nonetheless believed to be held in Gaza, and Hamas says it won’t free them with out an settlement that ends the warfare with Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it won’t halt its assault till Hamas is dismantled as a navy and governing energy and all hostages go free.
A Hamas official instructed Reuters the group had cleared a listing submitted by Israel of 34 hostages who could possibly be freed within the preliminary section of a truce. The checklist supplied by the official included feminine troopers, plus aged, feminine and minor-aged civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace stated the checklist had been given by Israel to Qatari mediators way back to July, and Israel had to this point obtained no affirmation or remark from Hamas about whether or not the hostages on it had been alive.
“Israel will proceed to behave relentlessly for the return of all our hostages,” it stated in an announcement.
BABY DIES OF COLD
Israeli forces, which have intensified their operations in latest weeks, continued bombardments throughout the enclave, killing no less than 48 individuals and wounding 75 over the previous 24 hours, in response to the Gaza well being ministry.
Harsh winter climate continued to precise a toll on the a whole bunch of hundreds displaced into makeshift shelters, with officers saying a 35-day-old child had died of publicity, no less than the eighth sufferer of the chilly previously two weeks.
Officers from Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat within the central Gaza Strip stated an Israeli airstrike at a faculty compound sheltering displaced households had wounded no less than 40 individuals.
Whereas Israel’s navy says Hamas has largely been destroyed as an organised navy power, its fighters proceed to carry out within the rubble of Gaza, which has been largely lowered to wasteland by the months of bombardment.
On Monday, three rockets had been fired from Gaza, certainly one of which hit a constructing within the close by Israeli metropolis of Sderot with out casing casualties, Israeli police stated.
Within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, a separate Palestinian territory the place violence has additionally surged because the begin of the Gaza warfare, gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded a number of others once they opened hearth on a automobile and bus close to the Israeli settlement of Kedumim.
