00:00 We're going to talk a bit more about this now with our international affairs editor,
00:03 Kethaven Ghorjasdani.
00:04 Kethaven, lots of reports coming out of Egypt at the moment.
00:07 Is a clearer picture beginning to emerge of where exactly we are?
00:10 Well, it's not clear yet, but there are good signs.
00:14 One of those signs was the presence, as we saw in this report, of Ismail Haniyeh in Egypt.
00:19 Because remember, last time the leader of Hamas actually traveled to Egypt, and he usually
00:25 only travels when things are starting to possibly unfold, it was right before the announcement
00:31 of that week-long truce.
00:33 So that is seen by some as possibly a reason to be hopeful.
00:39 And you had also in recent days those meetings between the Israelis, the Americans, the Qataris,
00:45 who were also involved in that first truce.
00:49 Then there's the added pressure on the Israeli government recently from the families of the
00:55 remaining hostages, especially after the killing of three hostages by the IDF.
01:02 Those families really pressing Benjamin Netanyahu to get a deal done to make sure that these
01:07 hostages come out.
01:09 So there are intense negotiations.
01:12 There are good signs.
01:13 That said, there's still a lot of disagreement between Hamas and Israel.
01:17 Hamas says that it wants a ceasefire in order to release the hostages.
01:21 Israel says no ceasefire until the hostages are released.
01:26 So that is a pretty big difference there.
01:28 And then there's the debate as to if there is a deal, who does Hamas release?
01:34 Women, elderly men, soldiers?
01:37 And who does Israel release among the prisoners?
01:41 Usually Hamas asks for more Palestinians to be released from prisons when you're talking
01:46 about possibly Israeli soldiers.
01:48 So we'll have to see if that can be worked out, too.
01:51 Now, all this is coming as the U.N. Security Council has delayed a vote again for a third
01:55 time on a new resolution about getting desperately needed aid into Gaza.
02:00 Is there any hope that this time around the U.S. might support that instead of vetoing?
02:04 It's kind of a similar situation.
02:06 Intense negotiations, good signs, but still no deal just yet.
02:12 Really the focus, as you said, is the United States.
02:14 How do the rest of the countries get the United States on board or at least get them to simply
02:20 abstain and not veto?
02:23 Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, has been in talks.
02:26 It's not just the U.N. negotiators.
02:28 He's involved.
02:29 He spoke into his counterparts in Egypt, in the UAE.
02:32 He also had a common call with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the U.K.
02:37 to discuss this.
02:39 Some glimmer of hope and optimism coming from the UAE, U.N. ambassadors saying that giving
02:44 a little bit of space for additional diplomacy could yield positive results, meaning this
02:50 is why we've tried to delay this vote, because we think we can get somewhere, though she
02:54 did seem to hint that today might be the sort of deadline if they can't agree on a deal.
03:00 What are we talking about?
03:02 Semantics again.
03:03 Urgent, sustainable cessation of hostilities.
03:07 That was in the initial draft.
03:08 The Americans see this as a ceasefire, basically, which they oppose.
03:12 They're talking now about urgent suspension of hostilities, which could get the U.S. on
03:17 board.
03:18 But there are two other elements.
03:21 One is the aid monitoring system about who checks those trucks coming into Gaza.
03:26 Right now, it's Israel.
03:27 The Security Council wants the U.N. to be in charge of that.
03:31 And then the Americans believe that there are two things missing from these resolutions.
03:35 The condemnation of the October 7th attack by Hamas and the mention of Israel's right
03:42 to defend itself.
03:44 Those are the things that they're discussing.
03:45 We'll see later on today if they manage to have an agreement.
03:48 All right, Katharine, thank you for that.
03:49 France 24's Katharine Gorjestani.
Comments