Will the guns fall silent in the Gaza Strip? The question is asked as Hamas says it wants to negotiate a “complete ceasefire” with Israel before any agreement.
“We are talking above all about a complete and total ceasefire and not a temporary truce,” Taher al-Nounou, a senior Hamas official, said Monday after a meeting in Paris this weekend between American officials. , Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian to silence the guns in the Palestinian territory. Once the fighting has stopped, “the rest of the details can be discussed”, including the release of the hundred Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
Blinken evokes “real hope” for the hostages
The American Secretary of State, for his part, spoke on the same day of a “real hope” of a possible future release of the hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the attack on Israel on October 7.
“I can’t say anything more, but I can say that very important and productive work has been accomplished and that there is real hope for the future,” Antony Blinken said, interviewed at a conference press release on the discussions in Paris. “Hamas will have to make its own decisions. I can just tell you that there is a good and strong alignment between the countries involved that this is a good and strong proposal,” he added.
The head of American diplomacy met in the morning with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahmane Al-Thani, who reported “notable progress” in the talks in Paris. He clarified that a framework for a truce in Gaza and the release of hostages must be conveyed to the Palestinian terrorist movement. However, it was not clear Monday evening whether the Hamas leader reacted to this framework.