JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas on Tuesday downplayed the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in Gaza ceasefire talks after U.S. President Joe Biden said Israel had agreed to a deal. pause attack If an agreement is reached to release some of the hostages during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The president's comments came on the eve of the Michigan primary, where he faces pressure from the state's large Arab-American population over his staunch support for the Israeli offensive. Biden said he had been briefed on the status of the talks by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, but his comments reflected his optimism about the agreement and the remaining hurdles. He said that not all of the problems have been overcome.
influenced by Hamas October 7th Attack on southern IsraelIsrael's air, sea and ground operations in Gaza have killed and wiped out tens of thousands of people. wide range of urban landscapes and evacuated 80% of the population of the devastated enclave.
Israeli seal on territory allows only small amounts of food and other aid, raising alarm that starvation may be imminentaccording to the United Nations.
Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and France carried out airlifts of food, medicine and other aid to Gaza on Tuesday, as aid deliveries by UN trucks were hampered by a lack of safe passage. . On the southern coast of Gaza, boxes of supplies dropped from military planes were washed down by parachutes, and thousands of Palestinians ran across the sand to retrieve them.
But alarm is growing over worsening hunger for the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million Palestinians.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Khidra said two infants died of dehydration and malnutrition at Gaza City's Kamal Adwan Hospital. He warned that infant mortality could soar.
“Thousands of children and pregnant women in Gaza will die from dehydration and malnutrition,” he said.
Al Helal Al Emirati Maternity Hospital in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town, reported that newborns were dying because mothers lacked prenatal and postnatal care, according to the United Nations Population Fund. Preterm births are also on the rise, forcing staff to place four or five newborns in one incubator. He did not say how many people died, but said most did not survive.
The prospect of an invasion of Rafah has now raised global alarm over the fate of the approximately 1.4 million civilians trapped there.
Talks towards a cessation of fighting have gained momentum in recent days and were underway on Tuesday. Negotiators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar are working to broker a ceasefire, with Hamas offering some of the dozens of hostages it holds in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, a six-week cessation of fighting and an increase in fighters. will be released. Delivering aid to Gaza.
Ramadan is expected to start around March 10, which is seen as the unofficial deadline for the agreement. This month is a time of heightened religious observance and day-to-night fasting for hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world. Israeli-Palestinian tensions I have had recurrences during the holy month in the past.
“Ramadan is approaching, and there was an agreement with Israel that there would be no operations during Ramadan to give us time to rescue all the hostages,” Biden said at a news conference. on NBC's “Late Night with Seth Meyers” It was recorded on Monday.
Biden said in separate comments the same day: wanted a ceasefire agreement It could take effect by next week.
At the same time, Mr. Biden did not call for an end to the war in which Hamas militants have killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli officials said Biden's comments came as a surprise and were not made in coordination with the country's leadership. Hamas officials said the group had no intention of softening its demands and downplayed any sense of progress.
Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the sensitive talks, said Israel wanted an immediate agreement but Hamas continued to press excessive demands. Israel also said it insisted that female soldiers be included in the first group of hostages to be released under any cease-fire agreement.
Hamas official Ahmad Abdulhadi said it was too early to be optimistic about a deal.
“The resistance groups are not willing to give up any of their demands, and what is being proposed does not meet their demands,” he told pan-Arab television station al-Mayadeen.
Hamas had previously demanded that Israel end the war as part of a deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this a “delusion.”
Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said at a press conference in Doha on Tuesday that he was “feeling optimistic” about the talks, without going into details.
Egyptian government officials said the draft agreement includes the release of up to 40 women and elderly hostages in exchange for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners, most of them women, minors and elderly. Ta.
The proposed six-week cessation of fighting would allow hundreds of trucks to make the move, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. I desperately needed help. They are invading Gaza every day, including in the hard-hit north.
Biden, who has shown staunch support for Israel throughout the war, left open the possibility in his remarks that Israel could eventually launch a ground attack on urban areas. Rafah in southern GazaLocated on the border with Egypt, more than half of the enclave's 2.3 million people have fled under Israeli evacuation orders.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said the ground operation in Rafah is an inevitable element of Israel's strategy to counter Hamas. The military this week submitted an operational plan for the attack and an evacuation plan for local civilians for cabinet approval.
Biden said he believed Israel had delayed its shelling of Rafah.
“They have to do that and have assured me that they are going to make sure that they have the ability to evacuate a significant part of Rafah before eliminating the rest of Hamas,” he said. “But it's a process.”
Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 29,700 people, most of them women and children. Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Combatants and civilians are not counted separately.
In late November, the first and only ceasefire of the war occurred. Release of approximately 100 hostages In exchange for about 240 Palestinians, most of them women, children and foreigners, imprisoned by Israel and a cessation of fighting.
almost 130 hostages remain in GazaHowever, Israel estimates that about a quarter of them died.
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Shurafa reported from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehaib in Beirut, Joseph Federman in Jerusalem and John Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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