Hamas says there’s been no breakthrough
Biden expressed hopes that cease-fire was close
Hamas officials on Tuesday appeared skeptical about the ongoing hostage negotiations in statements that came after President Joe Biden said he hoped a deal would be reached within the next week.
Biden told reporters Monday night: “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 cease-fire.”
The latest deal being proposed was put together by Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators in Paris last week and includes the release of up to 40 women and older hostages as well as the release of up to 300 Palestinians, mostly children, women and older people being held in Israeli prisons, The Associated Press reported, citing an Egyptian official.
Ahmad Abdul Hadi, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, said Tuesday that Hamas was not satisfied with the current proposal, according to the PanArab TV channel Al Mayadeen.
“(Hamas) is not interested in any concessions that do not lead to a complete and total cessation of the aggression against our people,” he told Al Mayadeen, adding, “We are not interested in engaging with what’s been floated, because it does not fulfill our demands.”
Qatari and Israeli officials also downplayed progress in hostage negotiations following Biden’s comments.
Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said at a news conference on Tuesday that there has not been a breakthrough in negotiations, but Qatar is “optimistic” about where things stand. Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Biden’s comments came as a surprise and were not made in coordination with the country’s leadership.
Biden also said Monday that Israel has agreed to halt its military offensive in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this year on March 10, if a hostage deal is reached in the coming days.
Nearly 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have died in the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. On Oct. 7, Hamas and other militant groups stormed Israeli border communities, killed about 1,200 people and took 250 people captive, triggering the war.
For the first time since the war broke out, the Egyptian Air Force dropped food and medical supplies in central and northern Gaza via aircraft, according to Egyptian state-run media.
Al-Qahera News said 45 tons of supplies had been dropped as of Tuesday morning and more than 50 tons of aid were being prepared.
The United Nations and humanitarian aid groups say tens of thousands of people in northern Gaza have largely been cut off from aid and face the risk of starvation.
One in 6 children under 2 in Gaza are acutely malnourished, the U.N. reported last week.
UN calls for release of 2 Palestinian paramedics
The U.N. on Tuesday called for the release of two Palestinian medics who were detained after a convoy, which was evacuating patients in need of specialized medical treatment, was stopped by Israeli forces for several hours.
The U.N. aid coordination office said its personnel along with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and World Health Organization put together a convoy to evacuate 24 patients from Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis, including one pregnant woman, one mother and a newborn.
Despite receiving approval from Israeli officials for the rescue mission, Israeli troops stopped the convoy for several hours, “forced patients and staff out of ambulances and stripped all paramedics of their clothes,” the U.N. said. Three paramedics with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were detained; one was released hours later.
“This is not an isolated incident, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. aid coordination office. “Aid convoys have come under fire and are systematically denied access to people in need.”
In other developments, Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian men early Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health authorities said. The military wing of the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed the three as members.
The Israeli military on Tuesday said it fired airstrikes at a Hezbollah base and infrastructure belonging to the militant group in several towns in southern Lebanon. A Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several civilians were lightly wounded. The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah firing about 35 rockets on the Mount Meron area in northern Israel.
“We are not interested in engaging with what’s been floated, because it does not fulfill our demands.”
Ahmad Abdul Hadi
Hamas’ representative in Lebanon