UNRWA Warns Of Gaza Famine Hamas Studying Truce Proposal

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini stated that the stocks that entered the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire have been depleted, indicating that the Strip is once again facing the possibility of famine.
Lazzarini explained in a statement that no aid has entered Gaza for six weeks due to the ongoing Israeli blockade of the Strip. He noted that over 2.1mn Palestinians are trapped in the Strip, subjected to bombardment, and suffering from starvation.
Nearly a month after Israel resumed its aerial and ground assaults across Gaza, Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group, said it had received a new ceasefire proposal from Israel.
A senior Hamas official said that the group would "most likely" respond within 48 hours.
The proposal was delivered to the group's delegation in Cairo over the weekend by Egyptian officials, who are mediating in the ceasefire talks.
Another senior Hamas official said that Israel had proposed a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages.
In return, Israel would free 1,231 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
The latest proposal also stipulates that any hostage release occur privately, in contrast to the previous releases involving public ceremonies in Gaza that drew widespread criticism in Israel.
The Hamas official said that the Israeli proposal calls for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander on the first day of the ceasefire as a "gesture of goodwill".
Israel's public broadcaster, Kan 11, said that the proposal also stipulates that Hamas release the bodies of 16 hostages on the 20th day of the ceasefire.
An official said consultations were ongoing, and that Hamas was "keen to end the aggression and the war" but would require guarantees from Egypt, Qatar and US mediators that Israel would uphold its side of the deal.
Hamas said on Tuesday that after an Israeli strike it had "lost contact" with the captors of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander.
In a statement on Telegram, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's military wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said: "We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location." "We are still trying to reach them at this moment," he added.

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