• Israeli air strike kills seven little ones from one family
• Pope slams cruelty behind killing of children

CAIRO: Hamas and two other Palestinian groups said on Saturday that a Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel is “closer than ever”, provided Israel does not impose new conditions.

Last week, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States were held in Doha, rekindling hope of an agreement.

“The possibility of reaching an agreement (for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal) is closer than ever, provided the enemy stops imposing new conditions,” Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a rare joint statement issued after talks in Cairo on Friday.

A Hamas leader said that talks had made “significant and important progress” in recent days. “Most points related to the ceasefire and prisoner exchange issues have been agreed upon,” he said.

“Some unresolved points remain, but they do not hinder the process. The agreement could be finalised before the end of this year, provided it is not disrupted by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s new conditions.”

He said that if an agreement is reached it will be implemented in phases, ending with “a serious prisoner exchange deal, a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal (of Israeli forces) from Gaza.”

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was “hopeful” for a deal, but avoided making any predictions as to when it would actually materialise.

“I don’t want to hazard a guess as to what the probability is,” he said at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It should happen. It needs to happen. We need to get people home,” he said, referring to the release of prisoners under a ceasefire deal.

Despite numerous rounds of indirect talks, Israel and Hamas have agreed just one truce, which lasted for a week at the end of 2023. Negotiations have faced multiple challenges since then, with the primary point of contention being the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that he does not want to withdraw Israeli troops from the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land cleared and controlled by Israel along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Another unresolved issue is the governance of post-conflict Gaza.

Pope’s statement

Pope Francis on Saturday condemned the bombing of children in Gaza as “cruelty”, a day after the territory’s rescue agency said an Israeli air strike killed seven children from one family.

Gaza’s civil defence rescue agency reported that an Israeli air strike killed 10 members of a family on Friday in the northern part of the territory, including seven children.

“Yesterday they did not allow the Patriarch (of Jerusalem) into Gaza as promised. Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” he told members of the government of the Holy See. “I want to say it because it touches my heart.”

Pope Francis, 88, has called for peace since Hamas’s unprecedented raid against Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and the Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza. In recent weeks he has hardened his remarks against the Israeli offensive. At the end of November, he said that “the invader’s arrogance... prevails over dialogue” in “Palestine”, a rare position that contrasts with the tradition of neutrality of the Holy See.

In extracts from a forthcoming book published in November, he called for a “careful” study as to whether the situation in Gaza “corresponds to the technical definition” of genocide, an accusation firmly rejected by Israel.

The Holy See has recognised the State of Palestine since 2013, with which it maintains diplomatic relations, and it supports the two-state solution.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2024