British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday (Apr 29) said that a 40-day ceasefire has been offered to Hamas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept Israel’s latest and “extraordinarily generous” proposal.
This comes after reports emerged that at least 25 Palestinians were killed during Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The strikes also wounded several others, the news agency Reuters reported citing medics as saying on Monday.
Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several people, in Gaza City, which is in the north of the Gaza Strip, the health officials said as reported by the news agency. The strike on the other house killed two brothers, the agency added.
The strikes came amid intensified talks of a long-sought Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas with the Palestinian militant group agreeing to a hostage release deal.
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The much-anticipated talks are scheduled to take place within a few hours as Egypt was expected to host leaders of Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
To de-escalate the situation, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months.
A recent increase in diplomacy appeared to suggest a new push towards halting amid fears that the invasion of Rafah, where more than one million people have sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, will be catastrophic.
But Israel claimed that Hamas’ last four intact battalions are holed up in Rafah.
Forty-day ceasefire?
Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Israeli hostages, said UK foreign secretary.
The Palestinian militant group has been given “a very generous offer of sustained 40 days ceasefire, the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, in return for the release of these hostages,” Cameron told a World Economic Forum meeting held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday (April 29).
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Blinken’s message to Hamas
Blinken urged Hamas to accept the proposal for a Gaza truce, reiterating that the US could not support an Israeli ground assault on Rafah “in the absence of an (Israeli) plan to ensure that civilians will not be harmed.”
“We strongly support Israel in its effort to ensure that what happened on October 7 never happens again. But at the same time, we are determined to do everything we can to bring an end to the terrible human suffering that we’re seeing every single day in Gaza among children, women, men, who’ve been caught in a terrible crossfire of Hamas’ making,” Blinken said.
“And so maximising protection of civilians, maximising the support that gets to them. This is very much our focus. Now, the quickest way to bring this to an end is to get to a ceasefire and the release of hostages,” he added.
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
(With inputs from agencies)
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