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Netanyahu will make speech to Congress as optimism for a ceasefire in Gaza rises
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/gaza-ceasefire-prospects-netanyahu-congress/index.html
The article is less optimistic than the headline
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On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they “have significantly narrowed the disagreements between the parties,” but there are “a few remaining issues that need to be resolved.”
“We continue discussions with the other mediators, and with the Government of Israel to try to reach resolution, but we don’t have that yet, and I don’t have any kind of forecast about when we might come to one,” Miller said.
Negotiators are currently awaiting a response from Israel to a Hamas document received on July 3, according to that official, and recent Israeli responses have been unexpected and unclear, the official said, pointing to Israel’s reneging on a previous, critical position about allowing the unrestricted return of Palestinians to northern Gaza during a pause in the fighting.
There’s also significant debate around the Philadelphi corridor and Rafah border crossing, both located between Egypt and Gaza. Netanyahu has argued Israel troops will not withdraw from the nine-mile-long Philadelphi corridor while Hamas has insisted on a full eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and their response, according to a source familiar, is expected to stick to that demand.
A central sticking point has been whether a first pause in the fighting would flow seamlessly into a permanent ceasefire, something Israel has rejected. The Biden framework – and a UN resolution that followed – says the first phase will continue as long discussions do over a second phase. That, theoretically, could mean talks could break down and fighting resumes.
Israel is blocking physicians with Palestinian heritage from entering Gaza
Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman arrived in Jordan last month ahead of an emergency medical mission into Gaza, which he was due to oversee. The Ohio-born orthopedic surgeon had already led two trips into the besieged strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and was finalizing details for his third.
But his preparation would ultimately be for nothing. The day before the team was set to cross into Gaza, Suleiman received notice that he had been denied entry by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.
Suleiman’s denial is part of a policy recently communicated to medical missions going into Gaza through Israel. The restrictions block the entry of US healthcare workers, and those of other nationalities, if they are of Palestinian origin or have Palestinian heritage, according to internal memos from the World Health Organization (WHO) obtained by CNN.
CNN spoke with doctors from several medical aid organizations who say the policy has forced them to avoid recruiting any medical workers with Palestinian background or ID on their trips. The rejections often come at the last minute, they say, leaving the groups with no time to fill the empty slots and forcing them to enter Gaza with an incomplete staff.
