The senior leader of Hamas in Gaza calls the US president’s comments suggesting a Ceasefire by Monday “premature.”
Joe Biden’s hopes of an impending ceasefire in the Gaza conflict have been played down by Israeli and Hamas leaders, casting doubt on the possibility of a short-term truce being put into place before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in two weeks.
Basem Naim, the leader of Hamas’s political wing in Gaza, stated via WhatsApp on Tuesday that following the US, Egypt, and Qatar-mediated indirect negotiations in Paris last week, the Palestinian Islamist movement has not officially received a fresh ceasefire proposal.
The US president said that the statements made late on Monday suggesting that a temporary ceasefire might be in place as soon as March 4 were “premature” and “did not match the reality on the ground.” Significant progress on a deal had not been made, Hamas representative in Beirut Ahmad Abdel-Hadi added to a Lebanese television.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Israeli sources said that Biden’s remarks were unexpected and uninformed by the government of the nation. They added that Hamas was still making “excessive demands.”
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The statements undermine remarks made by Biden on Monday in New York. We’re near, my national security adviser tells me. We are near. Biden said reporters, “We’re not done yet,” during the taping of his appearance on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers. “I hope we have a ceasefire by next Monday.”
In the Meyers interview, Biden also stated that if an agreement was struck to free some of the hostages, Israel would be open to temporarily stopping its war during the month of fasting.
“Ramadan is approaching, and the Israelis have agreed not to participate in any activities during Ramadan as well, to give us time to free all of the hostages,” Biden stated.
Controlling the carnage in Gaza has proven to be a challenging diplomatic endeavour in the nearly five-month-old conflict that resulted from Hamas’s raid on Israel, which claimed the lives of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250. According to estimates from Gaza’s health ministry and the UN, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed almost 30,000 people, forced more than 85% of the 2.3 million people living there to flee their homes, and destroyed more than half of the strip’s infrastructure.
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A cease-fire in November that released over 100 hostages in return for 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails broke down after just one week, and negotiations on a second agreement have not advanced. Time may be running out to broker a comprehensive ceasefire, as the relatives of the remaining hostages, international mediators, and desperate civilians in Gaza know with two weeks to go until Ramadan, a time when tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict often spike, even in calmer years.
According to reports, the most recent proposal under consideration calls for a 40-day suspension of all military activities in addition to a 10-to-one swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees.
The agreement called for the restoration of Gaza’s bakeries and hospitals, the daily entry of 500 relief vehicles into the besieged area, and the delivery of thousands of tents and caravans to accommodate the displaced. Except for individuals of military age, civilians would progressively be permitted to return to the northern part of Gaza.
According to the plan, Israel would liberate roughly 400 Palestinian inmates, including some well-known ones convicted of terrorist acts, while Hamas would free 40 Israeli hostages, including women, children under 19, the elderly, and the sick.
The quantity and nature of the freed detainees and inmates have been a particular source of contention in negotiations since the first ceasefire broke down at the start of December. It’s still unclear if female soldiers were among the first set of hostages freed, according to reports from Israeli media on Tuesday.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has referred to the repeated claims made by the exiled leadership of Hamas in Qatar that it will not free hostages until Israel completely withdraws from the Gaza Strip as “delusional.”
Palestinians stuck in the 365 square kilometre region, where a shortage of food, water, and aid means that one in four people are risking starvation, were shocked by the cautious tone taken by all sides on the possibility of a ceasefire.
Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza and the last shelter for almost half of the people, is under threat of an Israeli ground invasion, which Netanyahu has repeatedly stated would not be stopped by a short-term ceasefire.
It is unclear how or where residents are supposed to evacuate due to the widespread destruction and ongoing fighting throughout the region, two thirds of which are already under Israeli evacuation orders. Israeli decision-makers maintain that destroying Hamas requires a Rafah operation, despite international condemnation of the offensive’s humanitarian costs.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 52 attacks throughout the strip have resulted in the deaths of 96 individuals in the last 24 hours. The Israeli army said that during a raid on Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, which has allegedly been under Israeli control since November, troops had “eliminated” a number of militants within a tunnel.
People on the verge of starvation in northern Gaza have been made to consume animal feed and even leaves. Deliveries of aid, which the UN has cautioned are only a small portion of what is required, are increasingly missing from approved distribution locations as a result of raids by armed gangs or individuals in a state of desperation.
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Mahmud Khodr, a resident of the Jabalia refugee camp in the north, told Agence France-Presse, “I have not eaten for two days.” Children were seen roving the camp with empty pots in search of food. “There’s nothing to consume.”
The potent Lebanese terrorist organisation Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, said on Tuesday that it would stop firing on Israel if there was a truce in Gaza. This is a positive step after the two rivals have been exchanging nearly daily gunfire since October 7. Many people worry that a miscalculation or conflict over the disputed blue line between Israel and Lebanon could lead to a larger conflict in the Middle East.
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The mediators from Qatar added that they were still hopeful that a solution could be worked out for Gaza.
A representative for the Qatari foreign ministry, Majed al-Ansari, told reporters in Doha that “the efforts are ongoing, all the parties are conducting regular meetings.” “However, at this time, we don’t have anything in our possession to comment on that deadline, even though we do hope it will be accomplished as soon as possible.”
