Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has groaned under a tight blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt that has deprived the coastal enclave’s almost two million inhabitants of basic commodities including food, fuel and medicine.
Advertisement
Ya’alon added that the current reality is viable, and the IOF “would not stand idly in front of the tunnels Hamas continued build”.
Khaled Mashaal, the head of the Palestinian Islamist movement’s political bureau, confirmed on Friday that the two sides are engaged in indirect discussions on a possible cease-fire in the South. But so far we haven’t reached any agreement. We are open to all efforts: Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, regional and worldwide …
It shows the extent of Israel’s “anger” and “indignation” at the formation of Hamas’s naval combat unit, the paper reports.
“The ceasefire with the Israeli occupation remains in place and if Israel wants to keep it in place it must pay its price, which is a full lifting of the blockade on Gaza“, Zahar said in remarks to Safa news agency. “As of this moment, the talks are moving in a positive direction, but they have yet to mature into an agreement”.
“There are mediators who are doing their utmost to reach this agreement”, he said.
Earlier this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied reports that his government was negotiating with Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization that governs Gaza.
“Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf put the PA’s concerns bluntly: “[An Israel-Hamas deal] would achieve Israel’s strategic goal of killing the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.
The crossing, which is the only way for Palestinians to move in and out of the Gaza Strip, was last opened in June to allow students and humanitarian cases to enter Egypt.
Advertisement
Allow Israel to reduce the operational cost of maintaining military vigilance on the Gaza border, which heavily taxes its fighting forces, and do so without giving up any territory and potentially saving lives.
