‘We’re close, but not done yet’: Biden on Gaza ceasefire

News Desk - The Cradle

Hamas is standing by terms for an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza

US President Joe Biden said on 26 February that a truce and prisoner release deal in Gaza is “close,” expressing hope that an agreement will be reached by the coming week. 

“Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend. The end of the weekend. My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden told reporters on Monday. 

“And my hope is that by next Monday [March 4] we’ll have a ceasefire,” the president added. 

The comments were made as Biden was eating ice cream at a store in New York with comedian Seth Meyers, who had just hosted the president on his show. 

“Ramadan’s coming up and there has been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” Biden said during the filming of the Late-Night episode.

“They have to and they have made a commitment to me that they’re going to see to it that there’s an ability to evacuate significant portions of Rafah before they go and take out the remainder Hamas. But it’s a process,” he added, claiming that Israel has scaled back its brutal bombardment of the overcrowded city. 

A US official said on 26 February that US negotiators were working hard to get a deal achieved by the start of Ramadan on 10 March. 

“We believe a deal is possible and we hope Hamas will agree to one. We need Hamas to say yes,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. 

During talks between Israeli, Egyptian, Qatari, and US officials over the weekend, the mediators reportedly agreed on an “outline” for a truce and exchange deal. This latest proposal suggests the release of 40 Israeli prisoners in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week pause in fighting. 

Hamas has continued to stand by its terms, demanding an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. 

A senior Israeli official told Hebrew news outlet Channel 12 that the latest framework “does not correspond with Hamas demands,” adding that there are “red lines” that would be unacceptable to them. 

World Food Program (WFP) deliveries to north Gaza were recently suspended. Starvation has completely overtaken the northern strip. 

“The atmosphere of optimism that an agreement … will soon be reached does not reflect the truth. Killing our people by starvation in the north is a genocidal crime that threatens the entire negotiation process,” a source within Hamas leadership told Al-Jazeera on 25 February.

Meanwhile, Israel is still vowing to push ahead with an assault on the overcrowded, southernmost city of Rafah, which Tel Aviv claims is the final Hamas stronghold. Netanyahu said on 26 February that Israel has a plan to move civilians to safety before the Rafah assault, failing to elaborate further. 

The UN has warned that civilians in Rafah have nowhere to go, and an Israeli operation there would cause an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.