Watch the video: Israel continues air strikes on Gaza – ceasefire agreed for the south.
Clouds of smoke and explosions could also be seen in Gaza City on Tuesday morning. Israel continued its air strikes on the Palestinian territory, and emergency forces continued to be assembled on the border with Israel. Meanwhile, there was a glimmer of hope for the south of the Gaza Strip. According to Egyptian security sources, the US, Israel and Egypt have agreed to a ceasefire in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. It is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. (CEST), two people familiar with the matter said. This is accompanied by the opening of the Rafah border crossing in Egypt. An eyewitness reported to the Reuters news agency on Tuesday night that several trucks carrying relief supplies were on their way from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to Rafah. As part of diplomatic efforts to resolve the current crisis, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is traveling to Israel on Tuesday. US President Joe Biden is expected to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. At the meeting, Biden will reaffirm solidarity with Israel and make it clear that “Israel has the right and duty to defend its people against Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks,” said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The US and Israel agreed to develop a plan to provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip without favoring Hamas. Meanwhile, a Russian draft resolution in the UN Security Council calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and the militant Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip has failed. The text, which called for, among other things, the release of hostages and humanitarian access, condemned violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism, but not Hamas. The US representative to the UN accused Russia of supporting the radical Islamic Palestinian organization because the draft resolution does not explicitly condemn it.