Talks between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza have stalled as talks have been suspended with a timetable for restarting next week. At the same time, indicative of the criticality of the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave is the appeal of the American president to Israel not to use humanitarian aid as a “negotiating paper”.

In particular, US President Joe Biden called on Israel not to use humanitarian aid as a “bargaining paper” in the Gaza Strip, where the population is starving after five months of war and siege, assuring that he is working “relentlessly” to achieve an “immediate cessation”. of fire”.

In his State of the Union address on Thursday, the US president also announced the construction of a temporary port in the Gaza Strip to allow more aid to be delivered by sea to the Palestinian enclave, where hopes of a ceasefire deal between the Israeli army and Hamas seem to be fading away.

Aid distribution by airdrops or by sea cannot replace deliveries by land, senior UN officials say, warning against “almost inevitable generalized famine” in the Gaza Strip.

“We are working tirelessly to secure an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks” between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas’ military wing, as the war has now entered its sixth month.

Humanitarian aid, he added addressing the “leaders of Israel”, should neither “can be treated as something secondary, nor as a bargaining chip”.

He also confirmed that he had ordered the US military to set up an expeditionary port in the Gaza Strip to allow a “massive increase” in the amount of aid delivered each day.

The US, Israel’s main ally, has been mounting pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to allow more aid to enter the Gaza Strip through Egypt, as deliveries have so far been trickled in.

The construction of the temporary port will take place in a few weeks and will not involve the deployment of US troops in the field, US officials assured, clarifying that the government of Israel has been informed.

The aid will depart, they clarified, from Larnaca, as Cyprus is the European Union member state that is geographically closest to the Gaza Strip. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected on the island today.

While, according to the UN, 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population of the Palestinian enclave, are threatened by famine, several countries, including the US and France, proceeded yesterday with new air drops of aid.

But airdrops and sea transports of aid cannot “replace” land routes, the UN aid coordinator for Gaza, Sigrinde Kaach, stressed yesterday.

“Diversifying overland supply routes (…) is the optimal solution: it’s easier, faster, cheaper,” Ms. Kaach explained during a closed-door meeting of the Security Council.

In Madrid, Filipe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), also advocated opening more crossing points so “large-scale” handovers could take place.

“next week” conversations

According to the Hamas Health Ministry, at least 20 civilians, mostly children and infants, died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The situation is critical especially in the north, where access is almost impossible due to destruction, fighting and looting.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,800 people, the vast majority of them civilians, have lost their lives so far, according to the latest death toll published by the Hamas Health Ministry.

Mediators (Qatar, Egypt, US) sought to secure an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

But talks in Cairo with a Hamas delegation were suspended after four days and are “expected to resume next week,” according to Al-Qahera, a network said to have ties to Egypt’s intelligence agency.

They have not “collapsed” and the gap between the two sides is gradually decreasing, assured the US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.

A Hamas delegation left Cairo for Doha, based in the movement’s leader Ismail Haniya, because its “minimum demands” from Israel were not met, a Palestinian official said.

Hamas is calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip before any hostage deal is struck.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government says it will not even discuss these demands.

“As if there was an earthquake”

The war erupted after an unprecedented attack that day by Hamas’ military arm in southern Israel centered on the enclave, where the Islamic Resistance Movement seized power in 2007. The attack killed 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to a count of AFP based on official Israeli data.

Another 250-plus people were abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip, and according to Israeli sources, more than 130 remain hostages there — of whom 31 are believed to be dead — after 105-plus were released in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians by Israel. , at the end of November, when a week’s truce was declared.

In retaliation, Israel vowed to “eliminate” Hamas, which it, like the US and the EU, characterizes as a “terrorist” organization.

“The Israeli army will continue to operate throughout the Gaza Strip, and in Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated yesterday.

To achieve “total victory”, Israel says it is preparing to launch a ground assault on Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, on the closed border with Egypt, where nearly 1.5 million have taken refuge and are now trapped. Palestinians, according to the UN.

Three kilometers to the north, Israeli tanks withdrew this week from the center of Khan Yunis, leaving behind massive destruction after months of fighting and aerial bombardment.

“You can no longer find your home again. Honestly, it’s like an earthquake,” said Samir, who returned to the city he was displaced by the hostilities.