Israel to send negotiators to ceasefire talks with Hamas
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send a delegation to take part in talks for a captives in return for ceasefire deal, an Israeli official has said, according to Reuters and The Associated Press. It’s unclear where the talks will take place.
Netanyahu is reported to have stressed to his negotiators “that the war will end only after achieving all of its goals, and not one moment earlier”.
The prime minister has repeatedly said that these goals include the full defeat of Hamas, which arguably contradicts any move towards a ceasefire.
However, Netanyahu’s office last night announced that Israel had received Hamas’s latest response to a ceasefire proposal being negotiated, adding that it would study it.
Norway says Israel must reverse largest settlement land grab since 1993 Oslo Accord
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has called on Israel to reverse the largest illegal confiscation of Palestinian lands since the 1993 Oslo Accord.
Israel has approved the appropriation of 12.7sq km (4.9sq miles) of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank where about 6,000 housing units for Israeli settlers are to be constructed.
“Israel’s long-held policy of dispossession, land confiscation and establishing illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, undermines our collective efforts to realise a two-state solution and a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” Norway’s Foreign Ministry said.
“Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and they pose a significant threat to peace and security in the region.”
The Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995 were negotiated in the Norwegian capital and agreed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. They led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and a degree of self-government in the West Bank and Gaza.
Statement by Foreign Minister @EspenBarthEide on Israeli settlements https://t.co/BqJI0btcTt pic.twitter.com/v0BSEqZAdP
— Norway MFA (@NorwayMFA) July 4, 2024
