The Israeli armed forces pulled out of an important Gazastador on Sunday, said Israeli officials and Hamas, part of the Israeli obligations under a difficult armistice With Hamas, which is progressing, but before a large test is about whether the pages can negotiate their planned expansion.
As part of the ceasefire, Israel agreed to remove its armed forces from the Netzarim corridor of 4 miles (6 kilometers), a country strip that halves the North Gaza from the south that used Israel as a military zone during the war.
At the beginning of the ceasefire last month, Israel began to get the Palestinians to cross Netzarim to go north to their houses in the war, and sent hundreds of thousands over Gaza on foot and by car. The withdrawal of the forces from the area fulfilled a further obligation for the deal that held the 15-month war.
However, the pages seem to have made hardly any progress in the negotiation of the second phase of the deal, which should extend the ceasefire and to release more Israeli hostages from Hamas.
Three more Israeli Hostages were published Saturday in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners, the youngest in the ceasefire, which has so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for over 550 Palestinian prisoners. Negotiations on the second phase are underway.
Ohad Zwigenberg / AP
The hostage is published in the middle of Americans Comments by President Trump Last week the USA will “take over the Gaza Strip”. The President said that his decision on the takeover of Gaza was “not an easy decision”, and he claimed that he had praised other leaders in the Middle East, even though he none identified by name.
Mr. Trump made the comments during a visit by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The comments sent shock waves through the diplomatic community, although Netanyahu said at the time: “It is worth pursuing these avenue” and referred to the scene.
Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar this weekend, an important mediator in conversations between the pages, but the mission included low-level officials who triggered speculation that this would not lead to a breakthrough when the armistice extended. Netanyahu is expected to convene a meeting of the most important cabinet minister in the second phase of the deal.
In the meantime, Saudi Arabia confirmed his categorical rejection of Netanyahu’s comments on the shift of the Palestinians from her country last week, the Foreign Ministry announced in a declaration on Sunday. Israeli officials proposed the foundation of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory.
Netanyahu seemed joked on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on the Pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, who falsely said “Saudi State” instead of “Palestinian state” before corrected himself. While the Saudi explanation mentioned the name of Netanyahu, it did not directly refer to the comments on the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Saudi area. Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo considered the idea as a “direct violation of Saudi sovereignty”. The kingdom said that “fraternal” states appreciated the rejection of Netanyah’s statements.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that two women in the twenties, including one who was eighth month pregnant, were fatally shot by Israeli shots in northern occupied western bank, where Israeli troops carried out broad operation.
The ceasefire is fragile and its expansion is not guaranteed
Since it started on January 19, the ceasefire contract has repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides and underlines its fragility. But it had hope that the devastating war, which led to seismic changes in the Middle East, could end towards the end.
On Sunday, cars were heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, in the north by a street that crosses the Netzarim. As part of the deal, Israel should allow the car to cross through Uninswartes, and there were no troops near the street.
The spokesman for the Hamas, Abdel Latif al-Qanoua, said that the retreat showed that Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and that he thwarted “Netanyahus illusion to win a complete victory”.
The Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the troop movement with the media did not announce how many soldiers withdraw. The troops currently remain at the borders of Gaza with Israel and Egypt and it is expected that a complete withdrawal will be negotiated in a later level of the ceasefire.
During the first 42 -day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas gradually released 33 Israeli hostages that were captured on October 7, 2023 -Battered Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops from populated areas of the Gaza Strip and the Netzarim corridor will withdraw.
In the second phase, all remaining hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli retreat from Gaza and a “sustainable calm”. Details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks in the first phase, and the deep distrust between the pages have doubts whether they can nail the expansion.
The ceasefire is faced with many challenges, including Trump’s Gaza proposal
Israel said that it will not agree to a complete withdrawal from the Gaza until Hamas’ military and political skills are eliminated. Hamas says that it will not hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.
Netanyahu is now under the strong pressure of his right -wing extremist political allies to resume the war after the first phase, so that Hamas, who carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated. He also looks like the pressure of the Israelis, who are careful to return more hostages and develop further, especially after the lean appearances of the three male prisoners who amazed the nation on Saturday.
The further difficulty is a proposal from Mr. Trump to shift the population of the Gaza Strip and to adopt the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea, while Hamas, the Palestinians and the Wider Arab world immediately rejected them.
The proposed plan is saturated with moral, legal and practical obstacles. However, Mr. Trump could have been proposed as a negotiation tactics to improve the pressure on Hamas or as an opening game in a negotiation process that aims to secure a normalization contract between Israel and Saudi Arabia. This Grand deal seemed to be folded on Sunday when Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu’s comments, who said that the Palestinians could create their state in this area.
Saudi Arabia said his comments “aim to distract the attention from the successive crimes that were committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including ethnic cleaning that they are exposed.”
In an interview on Thursday with Israel’s channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land there.”
Violence increases in the occupied West Bank
The war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 hostages, has more than 47,000 Palestinians killed. In the fights, huge parts of the territory were wiped out, so that many Palestinians return to damaged or destroyed houses.
Violence has increased in the West Bank during the war and has intensified with Israeli military operation in the north of the territory in the past few days. The pregnant woman’s shooting, Sundus Shalabi, only occurred in the urban refugee camp, a focus on Israeli operations against Palestinian militant in the territory. The Ministry of Health led by Hamas said another woman who was identified as Rahaf Al-Ashqar (21) was also killed on Sunday.
The Israeli military did not immediately answer a request for a comment. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of Israeli military operation, which began in the city of Jenin a few weeks ago. He said the operation was supposed to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold in the occupied West Bank.
