Hamas chief in Cairo for possible truce negotiations

Hamas official Ghazi Hamad tells Al Jazeera group’s 'vision very clear; wants to stop the aggression'

GAZA:

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday that head of Hamas’s political office Ismail Haniyeh was in Egypt’s Cairo, “in what could signal a new phase of possible truce negotiations”.

More information on Haniyeh’s presence in Cairo, or ceasefire talks was not yet available.

‘Hamas vision clear – stop the aggression’

Earlier today, Hamas official Ghazi Hamad in an interview with Al Jazeera said that the group’s “priority” amid the ongoing negotiations was a stop to the war.

“Our vision is very clear: We want to stop the aggression,” he said. “What is going on in the ground is a big catastrophe,” added Hamad, referencing the “mass destruction and mass killing” caused by the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The member of Hamas’s political bureau said “some people” are looking for brief pauses in fighting of a few days or weeks but added that this was not in Hamas’ and Palestinians’ interest.

“Israel will take the card of the hostages and after that they will start a new round of mass killing and massacres against our people,” he said. “We will not play this game.”

Hamad added that once the war stopped, Hamas was “ready to negotiate with all” and reach a “big compromise” for the Palestinian prisoners and the captives in Gaza.

The Hamas official has also addressed reports of the group’s leaders having talks with leaders from the rival Palestinian faction Fatah about what Gaza would like at the end of the war.

Hamad told Al Jazeera that Hamas has called on Fatah and other Palestinian factions “many times” in order to have discussions and “take decisions together”.

“The problem is still the president of the Palestinian Authority [Mahmoud Abbas], who is still rejecting these calls from Hamas,” he argued. “We are very interested to meet our brothers from Fatah and the Palestinian factions in order to think how we can deal with the current situation in Gaza, either politically or the humanitarian aspect or these American attempts in order to change the situation.”

Since the start of the war, US President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to see a revitalised Palestinian Authority take charge in Gaza once the conflict is over.

Hamad said that until now, there have been “no good steps” taken from Fatah “to come close to Hamas”.

“We are open to sit with him [Abbas], to talk with him and with all Palestinian factions, first as a priority to stop the aggression and after that we can think how we can deal with the situation either in the West Bank or Gaza in order to rearrange the Palestinian home, in order to have one political system, one Palestinian authority,” he added.

“This is I think in our interest but I hope and I expect from our brothers in Fatah to show more positive steps in this direction.”

Israel kills 100 Palestinians in one day

Gaza’s health ministry reported earlier on Wednesday that Israeli attacks killed “around 100” Palestinians and wounded hundreds of others in only one day.

The attacks continued as a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote on a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire was delayed by a day. It is now expected to take place today.

Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas has left the coastal enclave in ruins and brought widespread hunger and homelessness. At least 19,667 Palestinians have been killed and 52,586 wounded in the conflict.

UN agency for Palestinian Refugees UNRWA said more than 60% of Gaza's infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged and more than 90% of the 2.3 million population uprooted.

Under foreign pressure to avoid killing innocents, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will not stop until Hamas releases the remaining 129 captives it is holding in Gaza and the resistance group is obliterated.

A United Nations Security Council vote to set up aid deliveries was delayed by another day on Tuesday as talks continue to try and avoid a third US veto of action over the two-month-long Israel-Hamas conflict.

⚡️Al-Quds Brigades (PIJ) published scenes of the artillery & rocket launches targeting IOF army’s supply line in the areas east of Khan Yunis.

In the footage, helicopters were spotted evacuating the casualties. pic.twitter.com/IlsthZM6zO

— Arya - آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) December 19, 2023

The 15-member council was initially going to vote on a resolution - drafted by the United Arab Emirates - on Monday. But it has repeatedly been delayed as diplomats say the UAE and the US struggle to agree on language citing a cessation of hostilities and a proposal to set up UN aid monitoring.

When asked if they were getting close to an agreement, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Tuesday: "We're trying, we really are."

The conflict has spread beyond Gaza, including into the Red Sea where Houthi forces based in Yemen have been attacking commercial vessels with missiles and drones, prompting the creation of a multinational naval operation to protect trade routes.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in Bahrain that joint naval patrols would be held in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which encompass a major East-West global shipping route.

"This is an international challenge that demands collective action," Austin said.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Tuesday it received information of an unsuccessful boarding attempt west of Yemen's Aden port city.

Some shippers are re-routing around Africa.

The Houthis said they would carry on attacking commercial shipping in the vital trade route, possibly with a sea operation every 12 hours.

"Our position in support of Palestine and the Gaza Strip will remain until the end of the siege, the entry of food and medicine, and our support for the oppressed Palestinian people will remain continuous," Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters, saying only Israeli ships or those going to Israel would be targeted.

Street fighting

In Gaza, residents of Khan Younis on Wednesday reported intensifying gun battles between Hamas fighters and invading Israeli forces in the centre and eastern districts of the southern city.

Gazan health officials said 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the city.

Israel has lost 132 soldiers in the fighting inside Gaza since it invaded the territory. The real count of Israeli casualties is likely higher.

The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, released a video of two male Israeli hostages who identified themselves as Gadi Moses and Elad Katzir.

Israeli missiles hit the southern Rafah area on Tuesday, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have amassed in recent weeks, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens as they slept at home, Gazan health officials said.

Residents said they had to dig in the rubble with bare hands. "This is a barbaric act," said Mohammed Zurub, whose family lost 11 people in the attack.

In the north, another strike killed 13 people and wounded about 75 in the Jabalia refugee camp, the health ministry said. Palestinians reported intensifying Israeli aerial and tank bombardment of Jabalia as darkness descended late on Tuesday.

Israeli military officials told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday that heavy civilian casualties are the cost of Israel's campaign to destroy Hamas and the movement's urban warfare strategy, despite global alarm at the huge human toll.

Talks on aid, captives

Israeli President Isaac Herzog signalled readiness on the part of the country on Tuesday to enter another foreign-mediated "humanitarian pause" in fighting to recover more captives held by Hamas and enable more aid to reach Gaza.

A truce in late November mediated by Qatari and US diplomats lasted for a week before collapsing and yielded the release of 110 captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.

Basem Naem, a senior Hamas official based outside Gaza, ruled out further negotiations on exchanging prisoners while the war continued.

A source briefed on diplomatic efforts told Reuters on Tuesday that Qatar's prime minister and the heads of the US and Israeli intelligence services had held "positive" talks in Warsaw to explore ways of reviving negotiations. But a deal was not expected imminently, the source added.