Negotiations between Israel and Hamas reaching a new truce that includes the release of hostages has reached a stalemate, with the Islamist group rejecting any pact that does not include a permanent ceasefire and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu merely offering militants “surrender or die.” .

“For now we don’t have any negotiations“Said a senior Israeli official who wished to remain anonymous this Thursday during a conference with the international press.

On November 24, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. it lasted a weekduring which the group handed over 105 hostages (24 foreigners) in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons.

Israel is under intense pressure to agree to a new ceasefire from the international community, which is concerned about the high death toll of Gazans – more than 20,000 – and the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip; but also by the families of 129 hostages remaining in captivity in the Gaza Strip, of which It is estimated that about twenty people died..

“There will only be negotiations on an agreement prisoner exchange after the complete cessation of aggression,” he said EFE Hamas representative.

For his part, Netanyahu assured this Wednesday that the only option he offers the Islamist group is to “surrender or die.”

“We will fight until victory. We will not stop the war until we achieve all goals: complete the destruction of Hamas and release all our hostages“he added.

The war broke out on October 7 following a brutal Hamas attack on Israel that left some 1,200 people dead and 250 kidnapped.

Israeli offensive continues

“Our strength continue to intensify ground operations in the north and south of Gaza,” army spokesman Daniel Khahari said, adding that the number of soldiers stationed in Khan Younis, a stronghold of Hamas leaders in the south of the enclave, had been increased.

After the end of the truce on December 1, Israeli troops More than 2 thousand militants killed in Gazahe added.

Moreover, the army took control of Shejaya, an important sector of Gaza City and one of Hamas’ strongholds in the north after bloody fighting in recent weeks left nine soldiers dead in one day in an ambush.

Israeli troops control Shejaya along with control of the Rimal area, also in Gaza City, and neighboring Jabaliya, thereby strengthening the Israeli presence in the north of the strip, while troops try to use the same strategy in the south, especially in Khan Yunis. stronghold of Hamas leaders.

Gaza plunged into “catastrophe”

Several areas of Gaza have reached the highest level. what is a “catastrophe”according to the United Nations food insecurity scale, due to famine in the north and south of the Palestinian Strip.

“Food shortages are so severe that one in four households in the Gaza Strip suffers from hunger. alarmingly high levels of acute malnutrition among the youngest children and a significant excess of deaths,” Action Against Hunger warned this Thursday.

Many of the approximately 1.9 million displaced Gazans 85% of the populationtake refuge in the south of the enclave, where even those zones that Israel designated as humanitarian zones were not spared from the bombing.

“The combination of incessant bombing, lack of food, water, fuel and the failure of humanitarian agencies to work in Gaza has led us to this desperate situation,” lamented Chiara Saccardi, head of Action Against Hunger in the Middle East.

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Hamas said that given this situation, the humanitarian aid that is coming in crumbs and crumbs It does not cover even 2% of the enclave’s needs.as they need at least a thousand trucks a day with food, medicine, drinking water and other assistance, as well as a million liters of fuel a day.

Bye, hundreds of wounded died in Shifa hospital Gaza City, the largest in the entire strip, has been condemned by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip Health Ministry for its lack of medical services due to the Israeli offensive.

“Hospitals in northern Gaza are not functioning,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

In November, Shifa Hospital came under a 10-day siege by the Israeli military, leaving it out of commission and forced to evacuate thousands of wounded and displaced people.including about thirty premature babies-, but in recent weeks he has managed to partially restore his functioning.

Israel widely accuses Hamas of using the sector’s hospitals as military barracks, shelters and weapons depots, and under this pretext besieged and attacked almost all hospitals from the north of the enclave, the last of which were Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya and Al-Auda in Jabaliya.

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The Health Ministry confirmed last Wednesday that the death toll in the Gaza Strip from the Israeli offensive exceeds 20,000, including more than 8,000 children, in 75 days of war. There are also 52,600 wounded..

The Gaza Strip has been suffering since December 20. new communication blackout, no phone or internetThis is the sixth attack since the Israeli ground offensive began on October 27. (EFE)