“Today we are focusing on the details of the implementation. We do not expect to leave today with an agreement, we expect the talks to continue tomorrow.” White House spokesman John Kiryby said this, referring to the ongoing Gaza talks in Doha. After calling today’s roundtable “a promising start,” Kirby added that “we’ll have more to say throughout the day.” “We’re not having a debate about the structure of the deal. We’re at a point where it’s generally accepted. The gaps are in the execution of the deal, in the individual muscle movements that accompany the implementation of the deal,” he added.
The demands of the Israeli protesters
Awaiting news from the planned Doha summit, Israeli protesters demanding priority for the release of hostages held by Hamas took to the streets this morning in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.reads the Israeli media. Women and relatives of the hostages marched along King George Street in Jerusalem, shouting that “the blood of the murdered hostages is on the hands of the government.” “Kidnapped alive, abandoned to their death,” reads a banner displayed by protesters in front of the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv, which also demands: “Deal now.” This is reported in the Times of Israel.
Abu Mazen announces he will go to Gaza
Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen announced in an extraordinary session of the Turkish parliament that he will travel to Gaza. “I have decided to go to Gaza with other brothers of the Palestinian leadership,” he said in a speech in Ankara applauded by Turkish lawmakers.
Pope Francis’s appeal
“I continue to follow with concern the very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza and I ask once again for a ceasefire on all fronts, for the hostages to be freed and for the exhausted population to be helped.“. He said it Pope Francis in an appeal at the Angelus. “I encourage everyone to make every effort to ensure that the conflict does not spread – he added -, and to pursue the paths of negotiation so that this tragedy ends soon” https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/08/15/medio-oriente-oggi-il-vertice-a-doha-manifestanti-israeliani-chiedono-priorita-al-rilascio-degli-ostaggi-hamas-a-gaza-40mila-morti-d85f17c9-c847-4757-a65b-5eef4d4a61ae/. “Let us not forget: war is a defeat”, concluded the Pontiff.
Hamas: “40,000 dead in Gaza”
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza has announced that the death toll from the war in the Strip has surpassed 40,000. The ministry said at least 40,005 people have been killed in the 10-month-old war, with 40 of those killed in the past 24 hours alone. Another 92,401 people have been wounded in the conflict that erupted on October 7 when militants from the Palestinian armed group attacked Israel, killing civilians.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the release of hostages and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
This was reported by the American news site Axios, citing US sources according to which the purpose of the call was for Trump to encourage Netanyahu to accept the agreement brokered with Hamas.
Axios reports that the Israeli prime minister’s office has not denied that the phone conversation took place, while Trump’s campaign has declined to comment.
US President Joe Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris were updated on developments in the Middle East by the US National Security Council. Israel has achieved what it can militarily in the Gaza Strip and continuing to bomb the Palestinian enclave only increases the risks for civilians, according to US officials cited by the New York Times.
According to the American newspaper’s sources, Israeli forces have inflicted heavy blows on Hamas but will never be able to completely eliminate the Islamist group in power in the Gaza Strip.
US officials quoted by the New York Times believe that in many ways Israel’s military operation has caused more damage to Hamas than could have been expected at the beginning of the war.