Israeli and Hamas officials have played down Joe Biden’s expressed hope that a ceasefire in the Gaza war is imminent, raising questions about whether a temporary truce can be implemented before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in two weeks.
The Palestinian Islamist movement has not officially received a new ceasefire proposal since indirect talks in Paris last week brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, Bassem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza, said via WhatsApp on Tuesday.
He said the U.S. leader’s suggestion late Monday that a temporary truce could be implemented as soon as March 4 was “premature” and “incompatible with the actual situation on the ground.” Hamas representative in Beirut Ahmed Abdel-Hadi also told a Lebanese broadcaster that significant progress had not been made on the agreement.
Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Biden’s comments were surprising and not coordinated with the country’s leadership. They said Hamas continued to make “exorbitant demands.”
The remarks poured cold water on Biden’s remarks in New York on Monday. “My national security adviser told me we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden told reporters after a taping of NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” “I hope that by next Monday we will have a ceasefire.”
In the Meyers interview, Biden also said that Israel is willing to temporarily suspend the war during Ramadan if an agreement is reached to release some hostages.
“Ramadan is coming, and the Israelis have made an agreement that they will not engage in any activities during Ramadan to give us time to rescue all the hostages,” Biden said.
Hamas’ attacks on Israel have triggered nearly five months of war, and stopping the bloodshed in Gaza is a difficult diplomatic task. According to Israeli figures, militants killed about 1,200 people during the war and kidnapped another 250. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others. According to the local health ministry and the United Nations in Hamas-controlled areas, 30,000 people in the area have been forcibly displaced, more than 85% of the 2.3 million people have been displaced, and more than half of the area’s infrastructure is in ruins.
Progress on a second deal to free some 100 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinians in Israeli jails collapsed a week later in November, and progress has been elusive. With two weeks to go until Ramadan – a period during which tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often rise even in calm years – desperate civilians in Gaza, relatives of remaining hostages and international mediators are realizing that Time may be running out for mediation. Comprehensive ceasefire.
According to reports, the latest proposals under review include a 40-day suspension of all military operations and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages at a ratio of 10 to 1.
Under the terms, hospitals and bakeries in Gaza will be repaired, 500 aid trucks will enter besieged areas every day, and thousands of tents and caravans will be delivered to house the displaced. Displaced civilians, except for men of legal age, will gradually be allowed to return to northern Gaza.
According to reports, the draft also stipulates that Hamas will release 40 Israeli hostages, including women, children under 19, over 50, and patients, while Israel will release about 400 Palestinian prisoners, including some convicted of terrorism. High-profile prisoner of communist crimes.
The number and identities of released prisoners and hostages have so far been a particular sticking point in negotiations since the collapse of the first week-long ceasefire in early December. Whether female soldiers will be part of the first batch of hostages to be released is still under discussion, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
Hamas’s exiled leadership in Qatar has repeatedly said it would not release hostages unless Israel fully withdraws from Gaza, a demand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called “delusional.”
Both sides’ caution about the feasibility of a ceasefire has frustrated Palestinians trapped in the 365-square-kilometer territory, where a lack of aid, food and water means one in four people face extreme hunger.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said a temporary ceasefire would not prevent Israel from launching a ground attack on Rafah. Rafah, the southernmost town in the zone, has become a last resort for more than half the population.
Widespread destruction and ongoing fighting in the area, two-thirds of which have been under Israeli evacuation orders, means it is unclear how or where civilians will flee.
