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Biden says Gaza ceasefire could start by Monday
Insights from Reuters, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Al-Monitor, and The Jerusalem Post
The News
U.S. President Joe Biden said a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could come into effect as soon as Monday as Qatar-led truce talks accelerated.
Israel and Hama have been negotiating over a ceasefire through Qatari, Egyptian, and U.S. mediators for months, with officials trying to reach a deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 10.
“We’re not done yet,” Biden told reporters. “My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”
SIGNALS
40-day pause under consideration
Sources with knowledge of the proposed deal have said the agreement would see a 40-day pause in all military operations in Gaza and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, Reuters reported. The deal would include the repair of Gazan hospitals and bakeries, the daily entry of 500 aid trucks into the enclave, and the delivery of thousands of tents and caravans for the displaced. If agreed, Hamas would release 40 Israeli hostages, including women, children, and the elderly, as well as people who are sick. In exchange, Israel would release 400 Palestinian prisoners with a promise to not rearrest them. Approximately 130 hostages taken from Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack are still being held in Gaza, a number that includes about two dozen people that Israeli officials believe have died.
Biden warns of waning global support amid mounting death toll
More than 29,800 Palestinians have died since the war began on Oct. 7, and millions have been displaced by the fighting. The humanitarian impact of a military campaign in the Gazan city of Rafah, where Israel alleges the last of Hamas’ leaders are hiding, could be catastrophic. Israel has reportedly committed to evacuating civilians from the city before it launches an attack, but Biden on Monday warned that international support for Israel is waning as the death toll climbs. The “only way Israel ultimately survives” is with a deal that offers “peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. Those comments can be read as a warning to his counterpart, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane noted: “He may be trying to push parties in the talks and laying a mark or two for Netanyahu that, come Monday, there needs to be a ceasefire,” she said. “And if there isn’t, the president will have looked publicly embarrassed by him, and that is not something that sits well with US presidents.”
Israel’s post-war plan criticized by US
Netanyahu’s plan for post-war Gaza involves the Israel Defense Force’s “indefinite freedom” to continue operating in the enclave, in order to monitor for future terror activity, Al-Monitor reported last week. That plan has drawn criticism from the U.S. and Hamas, both of whom view the plan as incompatible with stability in the area. Washington is against any “reoccupation” of Gaza after the war, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Meanwhile, Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan said that “when it comes to the ‘day after’ in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu is presenting ideas which he knows fully well will never succeed.”
