A meeting in Cairo on a proposed truce associated with the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip ended on Sunday, May 5, without concrete progress, while Israel and Hamas remain inflexible after seven months of war.
On Sunday, the Israeli army also announced that it had closed another crossing point, that of Kerem Shalom, targeted by rocket fire. Three soldiers were killed, according to the army.
In the last twenty-four hours, at least twenty-nine deaths have been recorded, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, administered by Hamas. Since the start of the war, 34,683 people have been killed in the enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that Israel “would not capitulate” to Hamas and could not “accept” the demands of the Islamist movement, which calls for a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory as a prerequisite for any agreement, in particular on the release of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023 in Israel.
“When Israel shows its goodwill, Hamas persists in its extreme positions, chief among them its demand for the withdrawal of our forces from the Gaza Strip, an end to the war and the preservation of Hamas. Israel cannot accept this,” declared Benjamin Netanyahu during a council of ministers, a video extract of which was published on the social network X.
The leader of the Palestinian movement, Ismaïl Haniyeh, accused Israel of sabotaging mediation efforts aimed at obtaining a truce in the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh said in a statement that the Israeli prime minister wanted to “invent constant justifications for the continuation of aggression, the extension (…) of the conflict and the sabotage of the efforts made by the various mediators and parties.”
The delegation of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas left Cairo late Sunday for Doha, “in order to hold consultations, and will return Tuesday to complete indirect negotiations” with Israel, the Egyptian media close to intelligence Al-Qahera announced on Sunday. News, citing an “informed source.”
The offer from the mediator countries, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, presented to Hamas at the end of April, provides for a truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel .
CIA chief William Burns was in Cairo on Sunday, according to US media, while Israel was not present at the discussions. The head of American intelligence is expected in Doha, where he is expected to meet the Prime Minister of Qatar to discuss indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a source close to the discussions announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced his government’s decision to close the Al-Jazeera bureau in Israel. The Qatari channel, which devoted considerable space to coverage of the war in Gaza, stopped broadcasting in Israel in the afternoon.
Al-Jazeera denounced a “criminal” decision, and Hamas denounced a “blatant violation of press freedom” aimed “at hiding the truth” about the war.
If the threat of closing the Al-Jazeera offices is brandished with each new crisis by the Israeli authorities, it has not always been effective. This time, the Israeli government ordered the seizure of the channel’s equipment.
The official Lebanese news agency ANI announced that four people from the same family were killed on Sunday during an Israeli strike in Meiss El-Jabal, a town in southern Lebanon. They are a man, a woman and their children aged 12 and 21, according to ANI, which specified that two other people were injured.
Shortly after, Hezbollah said in a statement that it had fired “dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the horrific crime that the Israeli enemy committed in Meiss El -Jabal.” The Israeli army explained to AFP that it had spotted around forty rockets fired from Lebanon, “some of which were intercepted”. “So far, no casualties have been reported,” she added.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, announced on Sunday that Israel had again banned him from entering the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned against a possible famine after nearly seven months of war.
“Just this week, they refused – for the second time – for me to enter Gaza,” added Philippe Lazzarini on X. He had already declared in mid-March that Israel had banned him from entering Gaza.
