US President Joe Biden said Israel and Hamas are ‘close’ to an agreement in Gaza for a 40-day ceasefire to restore civilian life, allow aid to reach the beleaguered Palestinian population and rebuild bakeries and hospitals.
He said a deal could be reached as early as next week and could be in place for Ramadan, which begins on March 10th.
‘My national security adviser tells me that we’re close,’ Biden told reporters. ‘We’re close. We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.’
He claimed major progress had been made in bringing about a temporary pause to fighting in Gaza where nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war.
However, Israel and Hamas have differed on key aspects of the deal. Hamas wants a full end of hostilities while Israel insists that it cannot withdraw from Gaza before accomplishing its goal of destroying the group’s military capabilities.
A draft of the deal appears to be the most specific of all previous proposals, mapping out steps to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian disaster.
Ceasefire Proposal
Under the plan, bakeries and hospitals would be refurbished or rebuilt, over 500 aid trucks would enter Gaza daily and thousands of caravans will be delivered to Gaza to accommodate the displaced Palestinians.
A US State Department spokesman earlier reported ‘progress’ in the talks, while the UK’s Downing Street said a ceasefire is ‘within reach’.
Food shortages are a major concern in northern Gaza, where no humanitarian group has been able to provide aid since January 23rd, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned.
‘If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza,’ WFP’s Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council, while his colleague from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ramesh Rajasingham, warned of ‘almost inevitable’ widespread starvation.
In the proposed first phase of the deal, both parties would stop fighting while Israel will start to release 10 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage released by Hamas, initially women, children, elderly and the sick.
The second phase calls on Israel to pull out its forces away from densely populated areas in Gaza and a peacekeeping force is being looked at to police the deal.
Gaza’s health ministry said the death toll has now reached 29,878 people.
