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LAST UPDATE | 10 Mar 2024
A HAMAS CHIEF has said this evening that the Palestinian militant group is still open to talks with Israel after mediators have so far failed to secure a truce ahead of Ramadan.
“I say clearly that the one who bears responsibility for not reaching an agreement is the occupation… However, I say that we are open to continuing negotiations,” Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised speech as Muslim nations announced the start of the fasting month.
His comments come after a week of talks with mediators in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough. Hamas’s armed wing had previously said it would not agree to a hostage-prisoner exchange unless Israeli forces withdraw.
Israel has rejected such a demand.
Yesterday, Netanyahu’s office said Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea had met CIA director William Burns on Friday “as part of the ceaseless efforts to advance another hostage release deal”.
Biden has acknowledged it would now be “tough” to secure a new truce deal in time for Ramadan.
Yesterday’s Israeli statement accused Hamas of “entrenching its positions like someone who is not interested in a deal and is striving to inflame the region during Ramadan”.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was preparing for “all possible operational scenarios” during the Muslim holy month.
The holy fasting month begins tomorrow against a backdrop of devastating war.
Earlier today, it was reported that a US army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza is on its way to the Mediterranean.
This comes three days after US President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to Gaza.
US Central Command said a first US Army vessel, the General Frank S Besson, left a base in Virginia yesterday and is on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for pier construction.
American officials said it is likely to be weeks before the pier is operational.
The sea corridor is backed by the EU together with the US, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that UN agencies and the Red Cross will also play a role.
On March 9, 2024, U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) General Frank S. Besson (LSV-1) from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis en route to the Eastern Mediterranean less than 36 hours… pic.twitter.com/X70uttuY9J
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 10, 2024
Spanish charity Open Arms has also said its boat, which docked three weeks ago in Cyprus’s Larnaca port, is “ready” to embark but awaits final authorisation.
It would be the first shipment along a maritime corridor from Cyprus – the closest European Union country to Gaza – that the EU Commission hopes will open today.
Open Arms spokeswoman Laura Lanuza told AFP that Israeli authorities were inspecting the cargo of “200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, rice and flour, cans of tuna”.
US charity World Central Kitchen, which has partnered with Open Arms, has teams in the besieged Gaza Strip who were “constructing a dock” to unload the shipment, Lanuza said.
The US military has said it airdropped more than 41,000 meals into Gaza yesterday, and Canada has said it too will join aerial aid delivery missions.
As reported first by The Journal on Monday, Ireland is now preparing to join an international operation to drop aid into Gaza.
Asteady flow of relief into Gaza is “only part of the solution”, said International Committee of the Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric.
Israel and Hamas must do more to “safeguard civilian life and human dignity”, she said, decrying the “unacceptable” civilian death toll.
The new push for getting more aid in came on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which follows a lunar calendar and could start as early as this evening, depending on the sighting of a crescent moon.
Meanwhile, Biden has stepped up his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US president said he believes Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” his approach to its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, now in its sixth month.
Speaking Saturday to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Biden expressed support for Israel’s right to pursue Hamas after the militants’ 7 October attack on southern Israel, but said Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken”.
He added that “you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead”.
Nethanyahu rejected Biden’s comments today and said: “If he meant by that that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts.”
Biden's comments came after Israeli protesters again took to the streets of Tel Aviv in growing anti-government rallies, joined by some of the desperate families and friends of the remaining captives.
Biden also signalled he would be willing to speak directly to the Israeli people through an address to the Knesset legislature, but without revealing any further plans or details.
The health ministry in Gaza today said the number of deaths in Israel's bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza had risen to 31,045.
Israel's campaign to destroy Hamas began after the movement's 7 October attack on Israel resulted in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
Includes reporting by Jane Matthews, Press Association and © AFP 2024
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