US rejects Netanyahu’s statement on Hamas – the night update without photos Flixbus tragedy on the way to Zurich: at least 5 dead in accident in Germany

The US rejects Netanyahu’s claim

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, according to his office: “Hamas’ position clearly shows that it is not interested in continuing negotiations on a deal and is a sad demonstration of the damage caused by the Security Council’s decision. ” The US government quickly rejected his statement: the statement that Hamas had rejected the final offer in the hostage negotiations because of the UN resolution was “inaccurate in almost every respect and unfair to the hostages and their families”, according to a US Department of State spokesperson Foreign Affairs. Matthew Miller Tuesday in Washington.

The day before, the UN Security Council had called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip for the first time since the war began, in a resolution that was binding under international law. The US had relinquished its veto power. The background is the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the fear of an Israeli ground offensive in the city of Rafah, located in the south of the closed coastal area on the border with Egypt. Hamas then said it would maintain its demand for a comprehensive ceasefire in the negotiations, including a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas has “rejected all American compromise proposals while celebrating the UN Security Council resolution,” Netanyahu said. However, US State Department spokesman Miller emphasized that Hamas had prepared its response to the latest negotiating proposal before the UN Security Council vote and not after the vote.

Current developments in the live ticker:

Israeli Defense Minister for talks in Washington

The dispute over the standoff is likely to further strain already tense relations between Netanyahu and the administration of US President Joe Biden. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Tuesday to defuse the situation. “The negotiations over the hostages and Hamas positions require us to join forces in our military and diplomatic efforts and increase pressure on Hamas,” Galant said at the start of the meeting with Austin, the Pentagon said. In the joint conversation, Austin emphasized that the US and Israel had a “moral obligation” to protect the civilian population in Gaza. There is also a ‘strategic importance’ in it.

The US government had recently clearly warned Israel several times about a ground offensive in Rafah. President Biden even called on Israel to send a delegation to Washington, also to explain alternatives. However, Netanyahu angrily canceled his envoy’s visit on Monday after the UN Security Council, with US help, passed the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Report: Calls on Israel for greater independence from American influence

Washington’s decision to go ahead with the resolution galvanized populist voices in Israel calling for the country’s greater independence from American influence, the Wall Street Journal wrote on Tuesday. “Israel has become too dependent on American weapons in particular,” Caroline Glick, an Israeli columnist and former adviser to Netanyahu, told the American newspaper. Israeli Defense Minister Galant recently committed in a letter to the US government to only use US weapons in accordance with international law. Asked whether the US had concluded that Israel had not violated international law, State Department spokesman Miller said on Tuesday that there had been no final ruling and that the process was still ongoing.

Report: Despite the impasse, negotiations are likely to resume soon

Last weekend, senior representatives of the mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US met in the Qatari capital Doha with the Israeli delegation led by the head of the foreign intelligence service Mossad, David Barnea, to try to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of hostages. to go on. On Monday it was said that Israel had agreed to approach Hamas and release several hundred more Palestinian prisoners than previously agreed in exchange for forty Israeli hostages. That evening, Hamas announced that it was sticking to its call for a comprehensive ceasefire. This made it clear “that we are at a dead end and that Hamas does not want to make progress regardless of Israel’s willingness to compromise,” the news portal “Axios” quoted an Israeli official as saying.

Shortly afterwards, Barnea ordered most of his negotiating team to go home. However, according to Israeli media, he left a small team in Qatar to continue the talks. The US government, Qatar and Egypt viewed the current situation as just a “pause” in the talks and expected negotiations to resume within a few days, Axios quoted a source familiar with the matter. The Israeli delegation returned home for internal consultations. “Everyone wants to continue the talks, so we don’t think it’s over,” the source said.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza

Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues to bomb the Gaza Strip. Over the past day, warplanes have attacked more than 60 targets in the coastal area, the army said on Tuesday. It also confirmed the killing of Gaza’s third-highest Hamas leader, Marwan Issa, in an airstrike two weeks ago. “We have checked all intelligence information and have come to a conclusion,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday evening. Issa and another Hamas leader were killed in a “complex and precise attack” by the Israeli air force. Israel reported two weeks ago about the attack on a tunnel where Issa was suspected, but did not confirm his death at the time.

An Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has become the first victim of the Islamists to speak publicly about the sexual abuse and torture she suffered there. During her captivity, she was repeatedly exposed to physical attacks, torture, humiliation and frightening situations, the 40-year-old told the New York Times (Tuesday). She was released in late November, when Israel and Hamas exchanged 110 hostages for about 400 Palestinian prisoners.

Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7. They killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 people to Gaza. It was the reason for the war. (sda/dpa/con)