US President Biden said yesterday that he believed negotiators were nearing an agreement that would halt Israel’s military operations in Gaza within a week. This is as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan gets closer.
There was no immediate Israeli reaction to Biden’s comments and a Hamas official played down any sense of progress, saying the group wouldn’t soften its demands.
Reports have it that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had spoken earlier in the day about further military action.
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Netanyahu said that the Israeli military had presented a plan to the war cabinet to evacuate civilians from “areas of fighting” in Gaza. He might have been speaking about Israel’s long-expected invasion of Rafah, a southern city where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering, many in makeshift tents and without adequate food, water or medicine.
Many countries and international aid groups have warned that an invasion of Rafah could lead to mass casualties in the enclave.
However, Biden did not call for an end to the war, leaving open the door to an eventual Israeli ground offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Israeli negotiators signaled that they might be open to releasing Palestinians jailed on terrorism charges in exchange for some Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to two officials with knowledge of the talks.
Hamas, which has called for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and abide by a long-term cease-fire, has not responded to the offer. But according to one of the officials, Israeli intelligence officers believe that Hamas’s leader in Gaza has become more amenable in recent weeks to a deal that would allow for only a temporary truce, with the hope that it would become permanent.
