Bibi Netanyahu speaks with Giorgia Meloni, who called for the urgency of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza that would allow the release of the hostages still alive and full and unhindered access of the civilian population to humanitarian assistance. The Italian Prime Minister also spoke by phone with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, as part of the contacts initiated since the G7 summit in Kananaskis.
The negotiating teams of Hamas and Israel are meanwhile preparing for indirect talks through mediators in Doha after the fundamentalist organization's positive response to the new US proposal. The political leadership of the group that has governed Gaza since 2007 resides in the Qatari capital, as does the chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, while the Israeli delegates should arrive on Sunday morning at the latest for the new round of talks, as confirmed by an Israeli official. The goal is a two-month ceasefire during which the terms for the end of the conflict in the Strip will be discussed.
Hamas' security apparatus has already sounded the alarm among its ranks by publishing a series of instructions and a direct warning: "Israel could use the moment to carry out targeted assassinations, arrests and attempts to free hostages, prisoners in the Strip for 638 days, about 20 out of 50 still alive. The Palestinian group believes that these are particularly delicate days, precisely because of the hope that a truce will be triggered." The guidelines recommend "adhering to security procedures during communications and travel, and to remain constantly ready to face surprise attacks or special operations in the enclave."
And on the ground, medical sources have reported that at least 70 Gaza residents have died in the last 24 hours in the Strip due to Israeli attacks, while the IDF has explained that it has hit and killed dozens of terrorists in various areas of the Strip and destroyed weapons depots, rocket launchers and command centers of the Palestinian armed factions. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has declared that two American humanitarian workers were injured by the explosion of two grenades thrown at one of the distribution sites in Rafah, while the Gazans were collecting the packages. Tsahal has confirmed the attack, accusing Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups of sabotage. And the delivery of aid is part of the three amendments requested by Hamas to the ('improved') Witkoff plan in the response delivered to Qatar, risking becoming a point of contention between the parties. Hamas is demanding that management return to the UN and be taken away from the GHF, while Israel and the United States believe that the previous system allowed the organization to appropriate the goods, not only for the use of militants and their families, but above all to be resold on the black market at a profit and causing prices to soar in Gaza.
Before and during the war. So far the United Nations has not responded to the request of the Gaza Foundation, sent in a letter to Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to collaborate in the handover of the enclave to civilians. In the evening, IDF defense systems shot down two rockets launched from southern Gaza toward southern Israel. At 10:00 p.m. local time (9:00 p.m. in Italy), the Israeli security cabinet meets: on the table, first of all, the contents of the delegation to the negotiators who will hold the talks in Doha. Then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will leave for Washington where he will be received by President Donald Trump at the White House.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv and other cities across the country, tens of thousands of protesters are joining relatives of the hostages. The Families Forum condemned reports that a deal would secure the release of only some of the kidnapped in stages. “At this critical moment it is forbidden to comply with the dictated Schindler lists, as if it were impossible to bring them all back,” the Forum said, citing Oskar Schindler’s list of Jewish employees saved from deportation to Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. Relatives said the method of freeing the hostages through lists and stages creates “unbearable uncertainty.”
(Online Union)