This first phase of the agreement was signed in Egypt, with Qatar, Turkey and the local government as mediators, who were joined by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, pressing for Hamas to sign this first tranche.
Present for Israel was Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, while the Hamas delegation was led by Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, both of whom survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Qatari capital, Doha, that killed five people last month. Let us remember that after this assassination attempt on Hamas leaders, Trump practically forced Netanyahu to apologize to Qatar for having invaded its territory. That scene spoke more of a pressure from Israel’s major partner so that this criminal act of the genocidal State is left behind and does not obstruct the possibility of ending the conflict (in reality, the genocide of the Palestinian people that awakened a great international movement against it) that today constitutes the axis of international politics and thus show that it was able to fulfill some of its many promises to end the war confrontations in several regions of the world, which it could not resolve. none.
For its part, Hamas, in a statement released Wednesday night, signed by Izzat al-Risheq, said the group welcomes the participation of Qatar’s prime minister and Turkey’s intelligence chief, along with Egypt’s intelligence chief, in the current round of negotiations. Ratifying, once again, its mistaken strategy of placing trust in these governments in the region, which during these two years continued their commercial and financial exchange with Israel, becoming in fact accomplices of the genocide.
As Netanyahu declared minutes after Trump’s announcement, this Thursday the agreement will be discussed, for approval, in his government coalition. It is still unknown what the Israeli Prime Minister will have promised to the Israeli extreme right, which always insisted on “the final solution” for the Palestinians, if they end up agreeing. But it is likely, given that in this instance it is about the return of the Israeli hostages and that the army will only leave Gaza City, towards an exclusion zone – not the entire Gaza Strip – and there was no progress regarding the withdrawal – or the extent of it – of the Zionist army, or how a future government of the Strip will be formed, that in the 20 points proposed by Trump and Netanyahu (a return to a colonial protectorate) proposes a foreign commission, which the US president later clarified could be directed by the old ally of US imperialism in the Iraq war, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair – where, thanks to the invasion of those imperialisms, a million people died.
For its part, Hamas provided a list of Palestinian prisoners, which will be evaluated by Israel. That is, this first phase of the agreement is only reduced to an exchange of prisoners and the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza City, not from Rafah (border with Egypt where there is a huge refugee camp, with overcrowded Palestinians), nor from the north of the Strip.
Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera, said that “According to the plan, after Hamas hands over the captives, the war should end,” but “Israel says no, the war will end only after Hamas disarms.”
While this deal was being struck, Israel continued its slaughter in Gaza, killing several people and injuring dozens. In the last week, it carried out 271 air and artillery strikes targeting densely populated areas and shelters for displaced people, killing 126 Palestinians, including women and children, 75 of them in Gaza City alone.
Meanwhile, as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports, only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and only a third of the 176 primary care centers are standing. This genocide has already killed more than 67,000 people and almost 2 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced to the south.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
