The American President has had a rotation of officals on the ground in Israel, Qatar and Egypt overwatching the effort to keep the ‘War Over’…..
The main Palestinian factions have said they have agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of Gaza after Hamas said it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators that “the war has effectively ended”.
A joint statement published on the Hamas website said the groups had agreed in a meeting in Cairo to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent ‘technocrats’, which will manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”.
The statement also called for a meeting to “agree on a national strategy and to revitalise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. Hamas is not part of the PLO, which is dominated by its longtime rival Fatah….
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…..the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is in Israel as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to strengthen the ceasefire agreement.
Rubio voiced hope on Friday of soon putting together an international force to police the ceasefire in Gaza and said Israel, which opposes including Turkey, could veto participants.
“There’s [sic] a lot of countries that have offered to do it. Obviously as you put together this force, it will have to be people that Israel is comfortable with,” he said.
Turkey, a Nato member and one of the region’s strongest militaries, was the first Muslim-majority country to recognise Israel.
But under president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkey has welcomed Hamas leaders and been a vociferous critic of Israel, which Erdoğan accuses of committing genocide in Gaza, an allegation Israel denies.
Rubio has become the fourth member of Trump’s inner circle to visit Israel since the president’s trip to the Knesset last week — a move widely seen as a signal to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that Washington is keeping a close eye on developments and wants to safeguard the fragile Gaza’s truce.
Hamas said Friday in a statement it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that “the war has effectively ended”.
It called for greater pressure on Israel to allow in humanitarian aid.
The World Health Organization said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza – and no observable reduction in hunger.
“The situation still remains catastrophic because what’s entering is not enough,” WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said….
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The West Bank…..
Israeli soldiers have occupied Jenin camp since January, expelling all 14,000 residents from their homes and erecting earthen berms, raised barriers, to cut it off from the rest of the city. Though the military operation – dubbed “Iron Wall” – has successfully crushed Palestinian militants there, the soldiers remain.
Jenin was once known as the “martyrs’ capital” of Palestine. The Jenin battalion, a militant group unique for its alliance of fighters from different Palestinian factions, fiercely resisted Israeli incursions. It was said that Jenin and Gaza were the two places Israel could never conquer.
Gaza is now in ruins and the martyrs’ capital is silent. Israeli soldiers patrol Jenin’s streets freely and conduct near-daily raids. The resistance fighters who gave Jenin its reputation are now only a memory, their faces fading from the posters lining the streets under the unrelenting sun.
“We are tired,” Dabaya said. “Resistance was a good idea, but look what happened to Gaza. All of the fighters are gone and we just want to live our lives in peace.” He has given up trying to check on his home in Jenin camp after soldiers caught and beat him badly last month.
To the residents of the West Bank, the war in Gaza was a warning. As they watched bombs destroy 88% of the Gaza Strip over the last two years, they realised there was no limit to what Israel would do to crush Palestinian militants.
Now the war in Gaza is drawing down, Palestinians fear Israel will turn its focus on the West Bank…..
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