With Israel and international mediators still waiting for Hamas’s official response to Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal, US president Joe Biden has stressed that the deal “is the best possible opportunity for an agreement, and ... Hamas’s ongoing refusal to release hostages would only prolong the conflict and deny relief to the people of Gaza”.
In a telephone conversation with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Mr Biden said the US and Egypt would “work to ensure” the three-stage ceasefire and hostage release agreement is carried out in full.
Mr Biden released details of the proposal on Friday. The offer calls for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, the provision of aid and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Hamas officials have expressed concerns that after the first phase of the agreement, in which all of the women, elderly and ill hostages would be released, Israel would resume the war.
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Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday the group frowns upon Washington and the West’s calls for it to accept the proposal “as if it is Hamas who is hampering the deal”.
In comments reported by Hamas media, he said Israel is not serious about reaching a deal in Gaza and is still manoeuvring under the US’s cover.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has sent out mixed messages, saying Israel backs the deal on the table while telling his far-right coalition partners, who have threatened to bring down the government if the fighting stops, that the war will continue. Mr Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners have indicated they will support any deal Mr Netanyahu presents and opposition parties have promised a parliamentary safety net for a deal to bring the hostages home.
[ Netanyahu grapples with coalition threat over Gaza ceasefire planOpens in new window ]
Time magazine reported that when Mr Biden was asked if Mr Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political reasons, he responded: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”
He was also asked if Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, and replied: “It’s uncertain.”
On Monday Israel announced the death of four more hostages held in Hamas captivity, although the circumstances were not revealed.
Fighting continued in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than one million people fled following last month’s Israeli incursion. Israeli troops were also operating in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, with accompanying air strikes.
Israel said it blew up a 1.5km-long Hamas tunnel after a 10-day operation in Gaza city’s Sabra neighbourhood.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 36,400 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7th last. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages seized in the surprise Hamas attack on that day. It says 124 hostages remain in Hamas captivity but it is not known how many are alive.
[ Four more Israeli hostages held in Gaza declared deadOpens in new window ]
Israel Defence Forces’ chief of the general staff Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday that Israel was ready for a military offensive along the northern border with Lebanon and that it was nearing a decision point.
“We are prepared, following extensive training, for an offensive in the north,” he said in a recorded statement. “We are nearing a decision point.”
Far-right ministers have called for Israel to launch a war on the Iran-backed Hizbullah to stop rocket fire which, over the last few days, has caused large fires across northern Israel.
Hizbullah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, said the organisation has chosen not to expand the war, but warned “If Israel chooses a full-out war, we are ready.”
