Main events from March 1st
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel will adopt a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza throughout Ramadan and Passover.
- Hamas has yet to comment, but the group rejected an earlier proposal by Israel to extend phase one without entering into talks for phase two and committing to a permanent ceasefire.
- Palestinians in Gaza said they feared a return to war as they marked their first day of fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan amid rubble and destruction.
- An investigation by The Guardian found that Israeli forces shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s military has killed at least 14 children in the occupied West Bank in just two months.
- Hamas released a new video showing Israeli captive Eitan Horn saying goodbye to his brother, Iair Horn, just before his release, prompting Netanyahu’s office to accuse the Palestinian group of “psychological terrorism”.
- Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv calling for the return of all of the captives, as families of those in Gaza accused Netanyahu of sabotaging negotiations to prolong the war for personal and political motives.
Families of Israeli captives want Israel to uphold truce deal
The two sides are currently at an impasse due to major sticking points.
Hamas has said that they do not want an extension of phase one, but rather want to move on to phase two, in which they are prepared to release all of the remaining Israeli captives.
Israel says they are also prepared to go back to fighting and that they have US guarantees to do so.
Nonetheless, there are still a lot of red lines for the Israelis who have been reluctant to agree to a phase two and even more reluctant to start discussions for a phase three, because it would mean an end to the war and then rebuilding Gaza and governance in the territory.
Still, a sigh of relief in Gaza as the pause in the fighting will continue.
Family members of the Israeli captives also say that the Israeli government should continue with this deal into phase two and three, because it’s the only way to ensure the release of the remaining captives.
Rubio says US rushing $4bn in military assistance to Israel
The US Secretary of State has said he is using “emergency authorities to expedite” sending “approximately $4bn in military assistance to Israel”.
“The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump,” Marco Rubio said in a statement.
He added that the Trump administration has already approved nearly $12bn in “major [foreign military sales]” to Israel, since taking office in January.
Rubio added that the Biden administration had placed “baseless and politicised conditions on military assistance to Israel at a time when our close ally was fighting a war of survival on multiple fronts against Iran and terror proxies”.
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