Gaza - Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
30 Palestinians were killed and 120 wounded in a shooting attack on a Palestinian gathering near a US aid site west of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The director of the medical team at the Relief Society in the Gaza Strip reported that approximately 30 deaths have arrived at hospitals so far, noting that the supply of medical supplies in the Strip is almost depleted. He explained that the number of victims and wounded far exceeds the capacity of hospitals in the Strip. This came after Belgian media in Brussels reported that the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, described the response of the extremist Palestinian Hamas movement to his proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as "totally unacceptable." This came in a message on the X website on Saturday.
Witkoff put forward a proposal for a new 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which Israel accepted. Israel has been waging war against Hamas in the Palestinian territories since the movement's terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.
Hamas announced yesterday, Saturday, that it had sent a response to Witkoff. The Palestinian movement said it was open to releasing ten living hostages and eighteen bodies of abductees as part of a deal, in exchange for "an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners." Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary one.
"Retreat"
On Channel X, Witkoff confirms that he has received the response. "This is completely unacceptable and means nothing but retreat," he says. "Hamas must accept the framework proposal we have put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately within the next week."
Witkoff adds that agreeing to a sixty-day ceasefire and the release of the hostages could be followed by "substantive negotiations in good faith" to achieve a permanent ceasefire.
The American proposal also includes the redistribution of aid in the Palestinian territories to the United Nations and NGOs. Since this week, a controversial American organization linked to the Israeli government has been endorsing this proposal, following weeks of Israeli blockades of aid supplies. The Israeli military would also withdraw from certain areas of the Gaza Strip. According to sources from the German Press Agency (DPA), Hamas's counter-proposal would deviate on several other points, in addition to the duration of the ceasefire. For example, the movement wants longer periods between the release of the remaining hostages and a longer military withdrawal than envisaged in the plan.