According to some Egyptian officials that they spoke with the Wall Street Journal, Israel has given the radical Palestinian group Hamas a week to accept or not a compromise agreement for a ceasefire arrived several days ago through the mediation of Egypt. If no response is forthcoming or Hamas refuses to compromise, Israel says it will implement its plans to invade the city of Rafah, the last city in the southern Gaza Strip that the Israeli army has not yet entered and where they have approximately one million and 400 thousand Palestinian civilians are refugees.
Negotiations for a ceasefire resumed about ten days ago in Cairo, Egypt. The meetings had entered a stalemate phase above all due to Israel’s request to release 40 hostages, mainly women and elderly people, who however Hamas did not seem able to find easily. But then Israel presented a new proposal which provides for the release of 33 hostages in exchange for the release of thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and a 40-day ceasefire. A Hamas delegation had left Cairo on Monday to study the proposal, but according to Egyptian officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, has not yet decided whether or not to accept the compromise. Hamas had said the response would arrive by Saturday.
A few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had the intention of invading Rafah “with or without an agreement” to achieve its main military objective, namely “to annihilate all Hamas militias” in the Strip. According to Wall Street JournalHowever, Israel is reportedly considering the possibility of postponing the invasion indefinitely if an agreement is reached that they deem satisfactory.
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