Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that a cease-fire deal might be taking shape. Presently, the Israeli leader is in Washington DC and is likley to address the Congress and meet President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris.
The deal, if struck, would see the release of dozens of hostages still held by Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to the media reports, a team from Netanyahu’s office will be dispatched Thursday (Jul 25) to hold talks. During a meeting with families of hostages, Netanyahu said, ‘The conditions are undoubtedly ripening. This is a good sign’.
Earlier on Friday, US Secretary of state Anthony Blinken expressed hope that negotiators were driving toward the goal line. It comes as the Israeli military, in the latest move, ordered the evacuation of a part of the Gaza Strip it earlier designated as a humanitarian zone.
The death toll in Palestine since the outbreak of the war nine months ago has now topped 39,000. On Tuesday (Jul 23), Hamas and the Palestinian Health Ministry said that Israeli forces had raided a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank killing at least five people.
As of now, 120 hostages are still held by Hamas. Of these 120, about a third are already dead and approximately 85 are alive. The Israeli military announced Monday that two more hostages had died in captivity. Meanwhile, in a major development regarding Palestinian leadership, the two factions of Hamas and Fatah signed a declaration in Beijing, Chinese state media revealed Tuesday.
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