Talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar over a possible ceasefire in Gaza come amid growing calls for Israel to refrain from planned attacks on the southern tip of the enclave, where more than 1 million Palestinians are currently sheltering. , ended without any breakthrough.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has contacted CIA Director William Burns and Qatar's Sheikh Sheikh to agree a cease-fire, protect civilians and provide further aid to the enclave, according to Egypt's National Intelligence Service. He met with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. on tuesday.
In a statement posted on its website, it expressed “enthusiasm to continue discussions and coordination” on key issues, suggesting that no breakthrough had been found. A representative from Israel also attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli forces are planning a ground assault on the southernmost city of Rafah, 64 square kilometers (25 square miles).
Rafah's pre-war population was around 300,000, but now it's overflowing with around 1.4 million people, and the city was declared a “safe zone” during Israel's four-month air campaign against areas in northern and central Gaza. Many of them now live in tent camps or makeshift shelters.
No plans have been outlined to safely evacuate civilians, and aid agencies say there is nowhere else for displaced people to go in the shattered besieged area.
“Where are you going to take people to when there is no safe place in the entire Gaza Strip? The north is shattered, riddled with unexploded ordnance and almost uninhabitable,” said Juliet, spokeswoman for the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency, UNRWA. Touma says. , Said.
Rafa is under threat
Israeli tanks shelled parts of Rafah for the second night in a row, sparking a wave of panic, residents said.
Dozens of people were killed in Monday night's attack. Two journalists were targeted on Tuesday, including Al Jazeera's Arabic correspondent. A photojournalist working with him was also injured in an Israeli airstrike north of Rafah.
Hundreds of displaced families are beginning to leave Rafah amid threats of Israeli ground attacks.
“I fled al-Maghaji and came to Rafah, and now I have returned to al-Maghaji and am here,” Nara Jawan said of the coastal refugee camp she fled in the early days of the conflict.
Rafah borders Egypt, but Cairo has vowed not to allow refugees to cross its border.
Gaza health authorities announced 133 new Palestinian deaths in the past 24 hours, with around 1,200 killed in Hamas attacks that crossed the border into Israel and began the offensive on October 7. Since then, a total of 28,473 people have been killed and 68,146 injured.
An inconclusive meeting
Ceasefire talks took place in Egypt on Tuesday, but a Hamas official told Al Jazeera that no delegation from Hamas was present. “We are still awaiting the outcome of the ongoing meeting in Cairo and communications with the mediator continue,” Hamas said.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that the two countries were “looking for a formula acceptable to Hamas, which insists that an agreement can only be signed based on Israel's commitment to end the war and withdraw its troops.” “There is,” he said. From the Gaza Strip.”
The official said Hamas told participants it did not trust Israel not to resume the war after releasing Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip.
The prisoners were captured in a Hamas raid on southern Israel on October 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government says its priorities are securing the return of the prisoners and eliminating Hamas, which rules the enclave, which has been under a crushing blockade for 17 years. .
“It's still a little early to say exactly how close we are to an agreement, but the Israeli delegation includes the heads of Israel's external security agency, the Mossad, and its internal security and intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. We know that,''' Al Jazeera correspondent Hamda Sarhat reported from occupied East Jerusalem.
South Africa also announced on Tuesday that it had asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider Israel's plan to escalate its attack on Rafah, asking whether additional emergency measures are needed to protect Palestinian rights.
In a case brought by South Africa, the ICJ last month ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent its forces from carrying out genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Government of Pretoria expressed concern that the attack in Rafah would result in further large-scale killing, harm and destruction.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that Washington has been working on a hostage deal to bring “immediate and lasting” calm to Gaza for at least six weeks. Biden called on Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah without a viable plan to protect civilians.
