Civilians like Alareer were confronted with an impossible predicament. Stay home and risk being killed, or try to flee without protection. At the time, the 44-year-old writer and academic told CNN he and his family had no choice but to remain in the north, because they “have nowhere else to go.”
But as CNN has previously reported, the seeming lack of progress on this front is fueling the families’ growing anxiety.
https://www.checkli.com/sevenufa After formal hostage negotiations that had been taking place in Doha, Qatar, fell apart, the Biden administration continues to be in close contact with their Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts about ways to get more hostages out, according to officials. All four leaders have previously called publicly for a ceasefire in Gaza and provided some of the strongest condemnations of Israel's actions in Gaza from EU leaders. In 2014, Alareer edited “Gaza Writes Back,” a collection of short stories by young writers documenting their lives under Israeli blockade. He was also co-editor of “Gaza Unsilenced,” a collection of essays, photos and poetry published in 2015 that documented the pain, loss and faith of Palestinians under Israeli siege. He also contributed to “Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire,” an anthology published in 2022. A native of Gaza City, he studied at University College London and SOAS, in London. Some of the families have called on the White House to consider making a side deal with Hamas that focuses on just the American hostages, and have even floated the idea of cutting the Israeli government out of initial negotiations altogether. “We have the faith, we have the belief that we have a fair cause, a just cause, to struggle to fight back for freedom, for basic human rights. We’ve been stripped out of this,” he told CNN. Separately, the leaders of Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta wrote a letter to the European Council chief calling for a discussion of a ceasefire at an upcoming European Union summit.
https://huggingface.co/gyeonggigwangjuop Hamas battalions in two areas of northern Gaza are “on the verge of dismantling," according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have also intensified its operation in the central part of the enclave. CNN obtained a copy of the letter from an EU official. Some of the families have called on the White House to consider making a side deal with Hamas that focuses on just the American hostages, and have even floated the idea of cutting the Israeli government out of initial negotiations altogether. Israel’s military has a significant presence in Gaza's largest refugee camp where heavy fighting and dozens of casualties have been reported, the director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza told CNN.
