Technology

Gaza truce talks in Paris reportedly making ‘significant progress’ – POLITICO

BySam

Feb 25, 2024

These talks come as airstrikes killed about a hundred people in the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to Hamas.

International efforts to negotiate a truce appeared to regain momentum this week after Brett McGurk, a senior US envoy to the Middle East, met with Israeli leaders.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a post-war plan that would seek indefinite control over security and civil affairs in the Gaza Strip. The plan was immediately rejected by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister, also presented a plan on Thursday to build 3,300 new homes in settlements in the West Bank in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacted on Friday by saying that Washington was “disappointed” by this plan and added that the new settlements are “incompatible with international law,” according to media reports.

“Our administration maintains strong opposition to settlement expansion and, in our view, this only weakens, not strengthens, Israel’s security,” Blinken said. The Trump administration had reversed US policy by declaring that the settlements did not violate international law.

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