Salama Marouf, the head of the government media office in Gaza, has labelled the American floating port a “humanitarian lie.” He accuses the US administration of deceiving global public opinion, claiming that “the US has exploited the floating port to mask its partiality and collaboration with Israel in its hostilities against our people.”
The US Department of Defence (Pentagon) countered these claims, stating unequivocally that the floating port played no role in the retrieval of Israeli detainees. The Pentagon clarified that Israel conducted its prisoner recovery operation near the US naval pier in Gaza, asserting that any proximity to the floating port was purely coincidental.
In the realm of negotiations, sources from Egypt and US diplomats in Cairo have disclosed ongoing preliminary talks. These discussions aim to explore the feasibility of a separate agreement that would secure the release of American captives held by Hamas and other resistance factions in Gaza. This initiative arises amidst the challenges of brokering a comprehensive prisoner exchange deal, compounded by the stances of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas.
The Washington Post reported statements from US officials highlighting the primary dispute in the prisoner negotiations: Hamas’s insistence on a lasting ceasefire and Israel’s pursuit of an unequivocal triumph, which they deem unattainable.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, speaking on Monday, suggested that establishing a ceasefire could pave the way for a lasting end to hostilities in Gaza. He pointed to the Hamas movement as the sole impediment to peace.
A Hamas representative, in a retort to Blinken’s remarks, told Reuters that it is, in fact, Blinken’s stance that presents the real barrier to achieving a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Also on Monday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the occupation army committed five massacres against families in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, including 40 deaths and 218 injuries, indicating that the toll of the Israeli aggression had risen to 37,124 deaths and 84,712 injuries.
In response to the Israeli attacks, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that it had detonated a booby-trapped house inside which an occupation army force had barricaded itself in the Shaboura camp in the city of Rafah, confirming that members of the force had been killed or wounded and that the rescue force had been targeted in the vicinity of the house with mortar shells.
