No ceasefire has been agreed to yet in southern Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after reports claimed a ceasefire for the transport of foreign nationals and aid has been agreed.
Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters that Israel, the United States and Egypt agreed to a ceasefire in southern Gaza on 9 a.m., coinciding with Egypt’s opening of the Rafah border crossing for the evacuation of foreign nationals out of Gaza and humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,
The sources said the ceasefire would last for several hours but were not clear on the exact duration. They also said the three countries had agreed that Rafah would be open until 12 a.m. on Monday as a one-day initial re-opening.
Asked for confirmation, the Israeli military and the US Embassy in Israel had no immediate comment. This was not immediately confirmed by officials with Gaza’s governing Hamas either.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Egypt that the crossing would open to humanitarian aid. “We’re putting in place — with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others — the mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to the people who need it,” said Blinken.
Earlier on Sunday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that Hamas had been preventing people from leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Three US sources with knowledge of the situation told NBC as well that it remains unclear if Hamas will open their side of the Rafah crossing.
Officials working to open up the Rafah crossing have also claimed that Israel will not commit to not attack trucks entering Gaza, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. One diplomatic official told the Washington Post that negotiations were taking place to allow Israel to inspect aid trucks.
Warnings of humanitarian crisis in Gaza as fighting continues
The reports of the crossing reopening come as local authorities and international bodies continue to warn of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza since Hamas launched the ongoing war on Israel a week ago.
Over 2,600 Palestinians have been killed amid the fighting, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. Water and electricity supplies once facilitated by Israel have been cut off, although Israel was planning to reactivate water supplies to the southern Gaza Strip, Sullivan told American media on Sunday.
Additionally, over one million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Gaza amid the fighting, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
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