Regularly, NU.nl provides you with an overview of the developments in the war between Israel and Hamas. This time: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington for a visit to President Donald Trump. The two may discuss a ceasefire in Gaza.
This is already Netanyahu’s third visit to Washington in six months. The Israeli Prime Minister hopes that Trump can ensure that a ceasefire can be reached with Hamas.
Hamas declared on Friday that it was ready to immediately negotiate a new ceasefire, based on a proposal from Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The plan would include a sixty-day ceasefire, with guarantees from Trump that Israel would abide by the agreements.
But Hamas is said to have proposed changes regarding humanitarian aid, the Rafah border crossing and the timetable for the Israeli withdrawal. Although Israel rejects these adjustments, Netanyahu’s office announced on Saturday that the Israeli delegation will still leave for Qatar to continue the talks, with the aim of reaching an agreement on the release of hostages.
According to Netanyahu, the Israeli delegation has received strict instructions to ensure that a deal is only reached on the basis of the conditions that Israel has already agreed to. The Prime Minister did not say what those are.
Israeli government agrees to additional aid in northern Gaza
On Saturday evening, the Israeli government gave the green light to increase humanitarian aid to the north of Gaza. According to The Times of Israel, this concerns an expansion of the existing aid provided by the United Nations. The responsibility for the distribution of the relief supplies will lie with international aid organizations, the news site writes.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is not involved in the aid. The organization did have plans for a food distribution point in the north, but that has not yet opened. The GHF says that the organization is in talks with the UN World Food Program to still open a distribution point in the north of Gaza.
The radical-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are strongly opposed to the expansion of aid in the north of Gaza. According to them, aid goods there fall into the hands of Hamas.
More and more clans active in power vacuum that Hamas leaves behind
A high-ranking source within Hamas tells the BBC that the militant movement hardly functions in Gaza anymore. The leadership of Hamas has largely been eliminated and there would hardly be any structure of authority left. Even the headquarters of the movement’s security service is said to have been plundered.
The Hamas official claims that local clans and influential families are increasingly calling the shots in parts of Gaza. These voices have been heard for some time, also in Israeli media. This not only concerns the clan of Yasser Abu Shabab, supported by Israel, but also other groups.
The clans are said to be working together to protect aid convoys against looters. Although, according to The Times of Israel, there are also voices that the clans sometimes even steal aid goods.
According to Israel itself, Hamas is anything but disabled. An army spokesman says on X that the armed forces have “operational control” in 65 percent of Gaza. In the ongoing violence, many Palestinian victims have also fallen again this weekend. According to news agency WAFA and Al Jazeera, at least eighty residents of Gaza have been killed.