Update(1200ET): Friday has witnessed a flurry of premature 'ceasefire imminent' headlines which have turned out not to be true, at least by all other indicators, most especially the ground situation and the fact that Israel's airstrikes have only stepped up in the last 48 hours. Israeli officials have rejected these false starts. For example, Doha-based Al Jazeera seems intent on presenting Qatar as the unsung 'peace' hero in all of this, while claiming that—
Al Jazeera sources say negotiations, mediated by Qatar, on a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas are “progressing and at an advanced stage”.
And yet, inbound rocket sirens continue to blare across southern Israel on Friday, and in the Strip IDF aerial forces are blasting away at Hamas HQ's and locations. What's more is there are reports saying Israel has increased its warnings for Al Shifa Hospital to be evacuated, which is Gaza's largest medical complex.
Regional war correspondent Levent Kemal is being widely cited, who said, "Local Palestinian sources report that Israel has notified that it will strike all units of the Shifa Hospital." A series of IDF public statements on Friday strongly suggest Israel is preparing military action against the hospital, saying that Hamas intentionally places military sites at the hospital and under the ground:
Hamas has denied and condemned the Israeli charge that it's effectively using the hospital as a giant human shield:
On Friday, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that "terrorists move freely in Al-Shifa hospital" in Gaza City, adding that it was being used to run part of Hamas' command and control centre.
The Palestinian group strongly denied the claims on Friday.
"We categorically affirm the falsehood of the Israeli occupation’s story about the use of Al-Shifa Hospital for military purposes, or the presence of any Hamas leadership in it," the group said in a statement.
"We call on the UN and Arab and Islamic countries to intervene immediately to stop the madness of bombing and destroying medical facilities," it added.
In short, there's been a lot of big claims on the diplomatic front in the last several hours, but with nothing materializing - and IDF and Hamas statements pointing to the opposite...
As we noted earlier, there's little in these developments that looks very "trucey" at all...
Oil is starting to recover from the 'Truce Imminent' headline slump...
* * *
Oil and gold prices are sliding after a series of headlines hit this morning suggesting a ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel war is imminent.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera says, quoting sources it didn’t name, that the Qatar-mediated negotiations are progressing “quickly” to achieve a “cease-fire” agreement and a hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
'War premia' are leaking out of gold...
...and oil is giving back gains after rallying overnight as the US conducted strikes on two Iran-linked facilities in Syria, reanimating investor concerns of a wider conflict and disrupt crude supplies....
However, putting the oil move in context...
...suggests the oil market is not fully believing the headline.
This doesn't look very "ceasefirey"...
Additionally, and perhaps more notably, Reuters reports that Qatar told the United States that it was open to reconsidering Hamas’s presence on its territory, a senior US official said on Friday, once the crisis over scores of hostages kidnapped by the militant group is resolved.
The understanding, which was first reported by the Washington Post, was reached during a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, when the top US diplomat was visiting Doha earlier this month, the official said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.