The long struggle for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is showing success: According to US President Joe Biden, Israel has agreed not to participate in the fighting in the Gaza Strip during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan begins on the evening of March 10 and ends on the evening of April 9.
Israel has also committed to facilitating the evacuation of the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt before intensifying the fight against Hamas there, Biden said in an interview on NBC.
Complains about the high number of casualties in Gaza
A ceasefire could also help in the process towards a two-state solution and contribute to the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the head of state added. Biden also lamented the high number of Palestinians killed, adding that Israel risks losing the support of the entire world if things continue like this.
Biden previously seemed optimistic about an impending ceasefire between Israel and the militant Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza war as he ate an ice cream in New York on Monday evening (local time) in response to a question from the press present. “My national security adviser tells me we are close,” he said. We have not yet achieved our goal. “I hope we will have a ceasefire next Monday,” Biden said. The US is closely allied with Israel.
A hostage release deal is pending
The US government has been negotiating a new ceasefire for weeks, which should, among other things, allow the release of all hostages. However, it is uncertain whether international mediators will be able to negotiate such an agreement at the start of the Islamic fasting month on March 10.
The media previously reported that the difficult negotiations were not making any progress. Israeli television channels Channel 12 and Kan quoted officials as saying that a negotiating framework proposed by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States remained inconsistent with Hamas’s demands. Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of adopting a blockade stance.
Prisoner exchange planned
According to an insider, as part of the ceasefire negotiations in Paris, Hamas has received a draft that provides for a suspension of all military operations for 40 days. In addition, Israeli hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel at a rate of one to ten, a senior insider close to the talks told Reuters news agency. Under the proposed ceasefire, hospitals and bakeries in the Gaza Strip would be repaired and 500 trucks of aid would be sent to the area every day, the report said.
Source: Krone
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