US President Joe Biden has said he hopes a ceasefire in Gaza can start early next week.
Speaking on Monday evening, he added that Israel is prepared to halt operations during the Islamic month of Ramadan as part of an agreement with the Hamas terror group.
Amid a widening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory caused by an Israeli bombing campaign launched in response to the October 7 Hamas terror attack, representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the US, France and others have acted as intermediaries for Israel and Hamas.
Their goal is to stop the fighting and release Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Reports on Monday said Hamas had received a draft proposal that includes a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages – dozens of whom are still held captive in Gaza – at a 10-to-one ratio.
When asked during an election campaign trip to New York when such an agreement could come into effect, Biden – with an ice cream in hand – replied: “I hope by the end of the weekend.
“My national security advisor tells me we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. I hope we have a ceasefire next Monday,” Biden told reporters.
US President Joe Biden (together with talk show host Seth Meyers on Monday evening) has said that he hopes a ceasefire in Gaza can start early next week.
Biden, 81, gave more details about what a deal could look like when he spoke about the issue in an interview with US TV presenter Seth Meyers.
“There is a way forward, but with difficulty,” he told Meyers when asked how to end the conflict.
Mediators hope to reach an agreement in about two weeks before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“Ramadan is coming and the Israelis have agreed that they would not engage in any activities during Ramadan either to give us time to get all the hostages out,” Biden said.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is expected to run from March 10 to April 9.
Biden has previously spoken of a six-week ceasefire.
The US president said such an agreement “gives us time to move in the direction that many Arab countries are willing to go” in terms of normalizing relations with Israel.
“I think if we get a temporary ceasefire, we can move in a direction where we can change the dynamic,” he said.
He added: “Too many innocent people are being murdered. And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah.”
The US president said a temporary ceasefire would kick-start the Palestinians’ process for statehood, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli politicians rejecting calls for a two-state solution.
Biden has strongly backed Israel despite the rising death toll in the Gaza offensive following Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel on October 7.
But he has increased pressure on Netanyahu to limit civilian casualties, especially during Israel’s planned offensive in Rafah.
Israel had “made a commitment” to evacuate significant parts of Rafah before they “take out the rest of Hamas,” Biden added.
But overall, Biden warned that the “only way Israel ultimately survives” is to reach an agreement that “provides peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Biden made comments in New York after taping an appearance on Meyers’ NBC show “Late Night” at Rockefeller Center in New York City, which was shut down by protesters calling for a ceasefire
Amid rising tensions with Netanyahu, Biden told Meyers that if Israel continues with the “incredibly conservative government that they have… they will lose support from around the world.”
Biden’s comments come after his national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that representatives of several parties – although not Gaza’s rulers Hamas – met in Paris this weekend and agreed on the “basic outlines” of a temporary ceasefire.
Negotiations were still underway in Qatar on Tuesday to hammer out the details of the deal. A senior Egyptian official has said the draft ceasefire includes the release of up to 40 women and elderly hostages in exchange for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women, minors and the elderly.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations, said the proposed six-week pause in fighting would include allowing hundreds of trucks to deliver much-needed aid to Gaza every day, including the hard-hit north.
Under the proposed ceasefire, hospitals and bakeries in Gaza would be repaired and 500 aid trucks would enter the enclave every day, the source said.
Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 29,782 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The war broke out after Hamas launched their unprecedented attack that killed 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official figures from the AFP news agency. Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 believed dead, Israel said.
Biden’s comments came hours before Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it had launched a salvo of rockets at an Israeli air control base on Tuesday in retaliation for deadly Israeli attacks on eastern Lebanon a day earlier.
As the situation has deteriorated in Gaza – where Hamas launched its attack on October 7 – fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East have also increased.
Hamas ally Hezbollah has exchanged fire with the Israeli army almost daily since the Gaza war broke out in October, but the attacks have been largely confined to the border area.
Hezbollah said it had attacked the “Meron air base… with a large volley of rockets from several launchers.” It said the rocket fire was in response to Israel’s first attacks in the war on eastern Lebanon.
Palestinian men collect wood at a building destroyed during Israeli attacks in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on February 26, 2024
An Israeli tank returns from the southern Gaza Strip, southern Israel, February 26, 2024
Missiles are launched from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, seen from the Israeli side of the border, February 26, 2024
Israel struck Hezbollah targets near the town of Baalbek, killing two of its fighters, security sources said. The Israeli military said it attacked Hezbollah’s air defenses after the group shot down one of its drones.
In retaliation, Hezbollah fired sixty rockets at an Israeli base in the annexed Golah Heights on Monday.
Cross-border exchanges have killed at least 284 people on the Lebanese side since October, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 44 civilians, according to an AFP count.
On the Israeli side, ten soldiers and six civilians were killed, according to the Israeli army.