Photo: Agence France-Presse The reconstruction of Gaza is expected to cost $30 to $40 billion, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated on Thursday.
France Media Agency in the Gaza Strip
Posted at 9:58 a.m.
- Middle East
Hamas says it is studying in a “positive spirit” a truce offer associated with the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, where nearly seven months of devastating war have caused destruction according to the UN “unprecedented.”
While the mediating countries (Qatar, Egypt, United States) await Hamas' response to the new proposal, medical sources in the Strip of Gaza reported on Friday new deadly Israeli strikes during the night, particularly in the Rafah sector.
Hamas is studying in a “positive spirit” the new offer on the table, for a 40-day break in fighting, its leader, Ismaïl Haniyeh, said Thursday in a telephone conversation with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
M. Haniyeh “confirmed” that a delegation from the movement would travel to Egypt “shortly” to complete recent discussions towards a possible agreement that “meets the demands of our people” and “ends the aggression.”
The leader of Hamas, a movement considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, also spoke with the Qatari Minister of Affairs foreigners, to whom he repeated his wish to “reach an agreement”.
The day before, a Hamas official spoke of a currently “negative” position of the Hamas about these negotiations.
The Palestinian Islamist movement, which took power in 2007 in Gaza, maintains its demands, first and foremost a permanent ceasefire, which Israel has always refused.
Photo: Agence France-Presse A Palestinian child swings at the entrance to a damaged building in the Gaza Strip.
“Do it all”
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, judged, on the occasion of a new tour of the region this week, the “extraordinarily generous” truce proposal from Israel.
He also urged Israel to abandon a ground offensive on the city of Rafah, which has become a refuge for a million and a half Palestinians on the southern edge of the besieged Palestinian territory.
“We will do what is necessary to win and defeat our enemy, including in Rafah,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Thursday, who reaffirmed his intention to launch this offensive “with or without a truce agreement.”
M. Netanyahu considers it essential to “annihilate” Hamas there, but the UN and many countries fear carnage.
“If we have to defend ourselves alone, we “we will defend alone”, said the Israeli Prime Minister as mobilization increases in certain countries against Israel for the conduct of its war in Gaza.
In addition to demonstrations on the campuses of major universities in the United States, Canada, and even in France, notably at Sciences Po Paris, Colombia announced on Wednesday that it was severing its diplomatic ties with Israel, and Turkey suspended its commercial relations with Israel on Thursday. this same country.
All while Israeli officials are beginning to fear a possible indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is however opposed by their American ally .
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On October 7, an attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. In addition, more than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 35 are now dead, after the announcement of a new death.
The government Israeli confirmed on Friday the death of hostage Dror Or (49), two of whose children, also kidnapped during the Hamas attack on October 7, had been released at the end of November as part of a first truce.
“The Israeli government must do everything to bring back Dror” and the “other murdered hostages so that they can be buried with honor in Israel,” demands the Families Forum of hostages.
In retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that left 34,596 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in the Palestinian territory.
The bombings have again claimed victims in recent hours, notably in Rafah, where six bodies were recovered after an Israeli airstrike at night on a house of the Al-Chahine family in the Al-Zahur district, according to Civil Defense and rescuers.
“Enough, enough […]. We need to put pressure on both camps” for a ceasefire, says Bassam al-Hafi, a resident of the affected area.
Unprecedented destruction
Hundreds of Gazans have been arrested by the Israeli army in nearly seven months of war. Two prisoners, including a doctor from al-Chifa hospital, died behind Israeli bars, two Palestinian detainee rights groups said Thursday, saying they died from “torture” and lack of of care.
Dr. Adnane Ahmed Atiya al-Bourch, 50, was the head of the Orthopedics department at al-Chifa Hospital. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, his death brings to 492 the number of medical personnel killed since the start of the war.
Arrested “by the army occupation in December 2023 in a hospital” in the north of the Palestinian territory, he died in Ofer prison, in the occupied West Bank, on April 19, according to the two associations which specify that his remains are “still held there”.
The Israeli army told AFP that it “was not informed” of such facts.
In addition to the heavy human toll, reconstruction is expected to cost 30 to 40 billion dollars, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated Thursday.
“The scale of the destruction is enormous and unprecedented […]. This is a mission that the international community has not faced since World War II,” said UNDP Regional Bureau Director for Arab States Abdallah al-Dardari.