A senior official of Hamas blamed the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have brought the negotiations back to square one for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Haaretz writes it. The official told Qatari newspaper The New Arab that Netanyahu did this to buy time. “The families of the hostages must know that the last round of negotiations is the last chance to bring their children back,” the official warned. According to the US, however, an agreement between Israel and Hamas is close. Talks are underway to reach a ceasefire agreement for hostages in Gaza. Israel and Hamas are close enough to an agreement to be able to bridge the differences, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre assured, aboard Air Force One, while President Joe Biden is flying to Wisconsin. Biden – the White House informs – has confidence that his team will help the negotiations.
US Defense Secretary Austin confirms: “the supply of weapons to Israel is paused”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is the first senior US official to confirm publicly about having put in pause an arms transfer to Israel due to concerns related to the military operation in Rafah, Haaretz writes. “We are currently reviewing some short-term security assistance. In the context of the ongoing events in Rafah.” He told a Senate committee. Austin said the United States has been clear from the beginning that Israel must account for civilians in Rafah.
WHO, hospitals in southern Gaza have fuel for three days
The hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip have only three days of fuelsaid the head of the World Health Organization (Oms), because of closure of border crossings in Rafah. Despite international objections, Israel sent tanks into the overcrowded southern city of Rafah yesterday and closed the nearby crossing into Egypt, which is the main conduit for aid to the besieged Palestinian territory. “The closure of the border crossing continues to prevent the UN from bringing in fuel. Without fuel all humanitarian operations will stop. The closure of the border also prevents the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” says Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X. “Hospitals in southern Gaza have only three days of fuel, which means services could soon stop.”
Hamas: new mass grave in Al-Shifa, 49 bodies exhumed
The government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has identified a new mass grave from which they have already been 49 bodies exhumed in Al Shifa hospital. Gaza authorities say that rescue teams continue to dig up bodies and that they expect to find “dozens of new bodies” in the mass grave, the third found in the hospital center from which around 400 dead have already been recovered, according to a communicated. During operations at the hospital, Israel said it killed around 200 suspected militants and interrogated more than 800 suspects, among whom it said it identified around 500 members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including senior officials. So far, according to Hamas, seven mass graves have been found in hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including three in Naser, three Khan Yunis (south) and another in Kamal Adwan hospital (north).