AFP – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has proposed a two-day truce in Gaza and limited hostage exchange aimed at securing “a complete ceasefire” after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.
The proposal made on Sunday includes exchanging hostages for prisoners and would be followed by more negotiations within 10 days, Sisi said at a news conference in Cairo.
He did not say whether the plan had been formally presented to either Israel or Hamas.
Sisi’s intervention came as Israel continues to pound the Palestinian territory, while also fighting a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and having just launched air strikes.
Egypt, alongside Qatar and the United States, has for months been mediating indirect talks with little success. Israeli spy chief David Barnea was due in Qatar for talks aimed at restarting negotiations towards a hostage deal.
Among the key issues preventing a breakthrough in talks has been Hamas’ insistence that Israel withdraw completely from Gaza, which Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said “painful concessions” would be needed in negotiations, and that military action alone would not achieve the country’s war aims.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 21 people were killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday, including three rescuers.
In parts of northern Israel sirens blared repeatedly early yesterday, although there were no immediate reports of casualties. The war has left at least 1,615 people dead in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.
The Israeli military said early on Sunday it had killed 70 Hezbollah fighters while losing five of its own soldiers, taking to 37 the death toll among troops since the start of ground operations in Lebanon.Heavy bombing also continued in Gaza, with the Israeli military saying it had killed another 40 militants in the territory. An Israeli drone killed three people gathering on a street east of Gaza City, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Monday, while an Israeli missile strike killed a man near central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern for the fate of Gaza’s civilians, weeks into a major Israeli operation in the territory’s north.
“The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in north Gaza is unbearable,” Guterres’s spokesman said.
In Gaza, Bilal al-Hajri said people are “dying under a tight siege and famine”.
“None of us can leave home even to provide some food and drink,” the 25-year-old told AFP.
“Anyone who leaves is targeted.”
With the sweeping assault ongoing, an AFP journalist on Monday reported Israeli military vehicles firing heavily west of Jabalia camp.
