‘Ice spy a Gaza ceasefire’
NEW YORK: US President Joe Biden says he hopes a ceasefire in Gaza could start by early next week.
Amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the US, France and elsewhere have acted as gobetweens for Israel and Hamas, seeking a halt to the fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
A deal could also include the exchange of dozens of hostages for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.
Mr Biden was asked during a visit to New York when such an agreement might start, and answered: “My National Security Adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”
Representatives from several parties, not including Gaza rulers Hamas, met in Paris over the weekend and “came to an understanding … about what the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire would look like,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
After the Paris meeting, Egyptian, Qatari and US “experts” have been meeting in Doha for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, hoping for a truce before the holy month of Ramadan.
A Hamas source said “some new amendments” were proposed on contentious issues, but “Israel did not present any substantive position on the terms of the ceasefire and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”.
An unnamed Israeli official told news site Ynet the “direction (of the talks) is positive,” and Israeli media reported that military and intelligence officials were headed to Qatar for further talks on a deal.
And Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani – whose country hosts Hamas leaders and helped broker a one-week truce in November – is due in Paris for talks this week.