The first phase of the Gaza weapon rest runs

The first phase of the laboriously negotiated ceasefire in the Gaza Strip expires on Saturday. What happens next depends on further negotiations. According to Israeli media reports, they are to be continued on Saturday at the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. “The ceasefire and the agreement on the release of the hostages must keep. The coming days are critical,” said UN General Secretary António Guterres.

“The parties are not allowed to shy away from failing this deal,” said Guterres, according to a UN announcement in New York. The agreement between Israel and Islamist Hamas stipulates that the ceasefire can be continued as long as discussions are held about the next phase. As tedious as the negotiations on the first phase were – the next steps are likely to be much more difficult.

As the German press agency learned from Hamas districts, the Islamist organization intends not to agree to the extension of the first phase. She insists on continuing with the second phase of the agreement.

Do the fights break out again?

In this second phase, the war is to be declared. “This will not happen – never,” the US television channel CNN quoted an Israeli source. According to media reports, Israel wants to extend an extension of the first phase by 42 days. Accordingly, Israel could try to achieve an additional exchange of living or dead Israeli hostages against other Palestinian prisoners – and then leave everything in the balance. “You will keep it as vague as possible,” said the Israeli source CNN.

The right -wing extremist coalition partners of Israel’s head of government Benjamin Netanyahu demand that the war will continue until the Hamas is completely destroyed. According to media reports, Netanyahu advised himself late in the evening with ministers and defense officers. His negotiation team had previously returned from Cairo after indirect discussions with the intermediaries with the intermediaries Qatar, Egypt and the USA. According to reports, the negotiations are to be continued today.

Negotiations should continue

If progress is made during the negotiations and approaching an agreement, the US special envoy could Steve Witkoff According to the US news page “Axios”, the region may already travel to the region this Sunday to try the negotiations at the end. Witkoff said to CNN, he hoped to reach an extension of the first phase in order to be able to negotiate the second phase of the agreement.

Guterres travels to Cairo

UN General Secretary Guterres, meanwhile, announced that it will travel to Cairo to a special summit of the Arab league in the coming week, in which the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip devastated by the war is to be discussed. The summit on Tuesday in the Egyptian capital offers the head of state and government from all over Arab world the opportunity to “come together and to discuss the elements that are necessary for the creation of peace and stability”, said Gutrees according to the UN.

The talks on the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, which had been in Gaza since January 19, should have started at the beginning of February. The deal stipulates that in the phase the remaining hostages are released in exchange for other Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s troops are to be removed from Gaza and the war ended permanently.

Actually, Israel’s armed forces should start with the gradual trigger from a corridor along the border of the Gaza Strip to Egypt and complete around a week later. However, Israel’s Minister of Defense Israel Katz made it clear that the soldiers remain stationed in the so-called Philadelphi corridor. Israel wants to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons through tunnels under the border to Gaza.

Ramadan begins

Meanwhile, the Islamist organization called on its supporters to show a strong presence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the beginning of Ramadan. The mosque is an important sanctuary of Islam. The mosque stands on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Jewish temple once stood in antiquity. The remnants of the temple, known as the wailing wall, are considered the most sacred place of Judaism. The Ramadan is particularly susceptible to increased tensions in the occupied Palestinian areas and in Jerusalem.