TRANSCRIPT
“If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiations, if they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is.”
A final warning from President-elect Donald Trump.
The outgoing US administration has been pushing for a deal between Hamas and Israel before Joe Biden leaves office - with many in the region now viewing Trump's January 20 inauguration as an unofficial deadline.
Trump’s pick to serve as the special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has struck an optimistic note about the state of negotiations.
He's been travelling to and from Doha although it's unclear exactly what his role has been.
“Well, I think we're making a lot of progress. And I don't want to say too much because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha... and I'm really hopeful that by the Inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president. I actually believe that we're working in tandem in a really good way. But it's the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation.”
But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal.
They're still adhering to conditions that have torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majid al-Ansari, has warned against putting a date on a deal.
“I don’t think it’s useful, helpful or possible to provide any timeline on an agreement taking place. When an agreement takes place, it will take place and we will announce it at that time, but right now I don’t think it's useful to speculate.”
Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from the enclave.
The director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Eden Bar Tal, says Israel will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
“The only reason that the hostages are still held in horrific conditions is Hamas.”
In one notable step forward, Hamas says it has cleared a list submitted by Israel of 34 hostages who could be freed in the initial phase of a truce, alongside Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The list includes female Israeli soldiers plus elderly, female and minor-aged civilians.
Israel says so far it hasn't received confirmation about whether those on the list are still alive.
Michael Levy is the brother of one of the hostages, he says the news has brought him no comfort.
“The way I see this list is the way I saw all the recent rumours about an upcoming deal. For me, until my brother is not here and the hostages are not here in Israel, it's it's just a rumour. Just another rumour. We saw this list in July. So this list even later, it's the same thing. I don't feel as if something dramatically changed.”
People in Gaza say, regardless of President-elect Trump's statement, things could hardly get any worse.
"We hope that there will be a truce, and if it doesn’t happen it will be a disaster. What we are living is not life. No one can bear the situation we are experiencing for one day. We have endured enough frustration and mental and physical fatigue. We wake up at night hearing the voices of men crying, because of the bad situation. The situation is unbearable, we have no energy left, we want it (war) to end today.”
To date, nearly 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza, according to health officials in the enclave.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 10 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday [[Jan 7]] and at least six children have frozen to death in recent weeks.
Gaza's health ministry is urging international donors to immediately provide fuel to maintain medical services.
Meanwhile a displaced family of five shelter in a pit below their tent in Deir Al Balah.
Their father dug the hole to protect his young children from Israeli strikes.
He says it's still difficult to explain to them what's happening.
"The word 'war' is not an easy one, one might imagine it is war and strikes and that's it. No, it is bigger than that. War is in the food, the breath, the air. Everything is difficult and painful in order to provide for your children. It is not easy like anybody would imagine, not just a war and that's it. It is a word of three letters, but its meaning is big, which you will never know until you live its pain.”
