Biden: 'Very dangerous' not to have a cease-fire in Gaza before Ramadan

Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on the Israel-Hamas war for Tuesday, March 5. For the latest news on the conflict in the Middle East, view our live updates file on the war for Wednesday, March 6.

President Joe Biden warned Tuesday a failure to get a cease-fire in Gaza before the start of Ramadan early next week "could be very, very dangerous'' as both sides remained publicly firm in their positions.

A third day of negotiations for a truce and the release of hostages concluded Tuesday in Cairo with no breakthroughs, The Associated Press reported, though adding that the Hamas delegation remained in Egypt and would meet with mediators Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Maryland before flying back to the White House, Biden said Israel has been cooperating and "it's in the hands of Hamas right now" to strike a deal before the Muslim holy month begins around Sunday, depending on the sighting of the moon.

"We’ll know in a couple days if it’s going to happen,'' Biden said. "If we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan ... it could be very, very dangerous. So, we’re looking − we’re trying hard for that cease-fire.''

Egyptian officials helping mediate the discussions said Hamas made a proposal Tuesday and it would be presented to Israel, which did not attend the talks.

U.S. officials have been touting a six-week cease-fire that would bring the release of some hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as increased humanitarian aid to Gaza. But Hamas leaders insist on a permanent end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and they have declined Israel's request for the names of the hostages to be freed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected what he branded as Hamas' "delusional'' demands and said that, truce or not, his military will at some point pursue the militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Besides the permanency of a cease-fire, the sides have also yet to agree on the terms of the return home of northern Gaza residents, the ratio of a hostage-to-prisoner exchange and which imprisoned militants would be released.

“Hamas is open to proposals and initiatives that are consistent with its position calling for a cease-fire, withdrawal, the return of the displaced, the entry of relief convoys and reconstruction,” Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha said.

Developments:

∎ An overnight Israeli airstrike killed at least 17 people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian officials said. The nearby European Hospital said it had received 17 bodies.

∎ The Gaza Health Ministry said 15 children have starved to death at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and six others are at risk of dying from malnutrition and dehydration. The U.N. has confirmed at least 10 such deaths in the devastated area.

Biden urges 'more aid into Gaza. There's no excuse'

The U.S. is increasing pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, where scenes of desperation and starvation are becoming common.

“We must get more aid into Gaza,” Biden said Tuesday. “There’s no excuse.''

Biden is the second top administration official to use that phrase recently regarding Israel's role in the bottleneck that has prevented a large, steady flow of aid trucks to come in, after Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that Israel must do more, adding, "No excuses.''

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also broached the topic during their separate meetings Tuesday with Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz, the Times of Israel reported.

The U.S. wants Israel to open more border crossings than the two existing ones in the south, where lengthy checks and a harsh journey to northern Gaza make it difficult for the aid to reach the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in that battered area.

Aid groups have said it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies within most of Gaza because of the difficulty of coordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

Emaciated children illustrate acute food shortage in Gaza

The U.N. says half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, and 500,000 of those − more than one in every five −are at catastrophic levels. That doesn't quite illustrate the rampant need and misery in a territory devastated by war and deprived of a consistent influx of humanitarian aid.

The sight of skeletal toddlers lying next to each other on a bed in a southern Gaza clinic, "with sunken eyes and emaciated faces,'' as a Reuters report described them, comes closer to painting the actual picture of the rampant hunger in the enclave.

Diaa Al-Shaer, a nurse at the Al-Awda health center in Rafah where that scene took place this week, said there has been an unprecedented influx of sick and malnourished children.

One of those toddlers, Ahmed Qannan, was down to a mere 13.2 pounds, half his weight before the war, his aunt Israa Kalakh said. And that was in Gaza's south, which is doing much better than the ravaged north, where considerably less aid is arriving.

The U.N. said Tuesday child malnutrition is around three times higher in the north, where in January one in six kids under age 2 were acutely malnourished, according to World Health Organization representative Richard Peeperkorn. "The situation is likely to be greater today," he said.

Aid airdrops a sign of desperation, not substitute for trucks

U.S. Central Command said that, along with Jordan, it dropped 36,800 ready-to-eat meals into food-deprived northern Gaza on Tuesday, the second U.S. airdrop since Saturday.

The airdrops last weekend cost about $665,000 and involved three U.S. and two Jordanian C-130 cargo planes, according to a congressional source briefed on the matter.

Central Command, which oversaw the operation, used mass texts to alert Palestinians the aid was on its way, according to the source who was not authorized to speak publicly. The operation was coordinated with Israel.

John Kirby, the White House spokesman for national security matters, said 66 bundles of aid containing 38,000 meals were dropped over the weekend and more are in the works. He said the U.S. has provided more than $180 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Gaza since the war started, more than any country, but he acknowledged airdrops are not nearly as efficient as aid trucks.

“They are certainly an indication of how desperate things are that we’re now going to have to resort to airdrops,'' Kirby told CNN. "You can’t replicate the size, the scale, the scope and the speed with which you can get things on the ground (with trucks), but unfortunately … the numbers of trucks going in just hasn’t been enough.’’

Visit by rising star Gantz an opportunity for US officials

The visit by Gantz, whose star is rising in Israeli politics, provided the Biden administration the chance to express its concerns about the death toll and conditions in Gaza to an official who might be more receptive than Netanyahu.

The former Israeli defense minister and Chief of Staff of the nation’s military met with top-level U.S. officials like Harris, Blinken, Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan over Netanyahu’s objections.

Despite their rivalry, the centrist Gantz joined Netanyahu’s coalition government and three-member War Cabinet as a sign of solidarity shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and now a Middle East analyst, said it was not coincidental the U.S. reiterated its military support for Israel during Gantz’s visit.

“Gantz’s trip to the U.S. comes at a pivotal time in the current Israeli government as growing fissures could bring about a fracturing of the coalition and potentially trigger elections that will restructure Israel’s government,’’ Melamed said. “Preliminary polling suggests that Gantz could be the forerunner in that election.’’

More: Mass texts to Palestinians: U.S. plans more airdrops to Gaza as call for cease-fire grow

− Tom Vanden Brook

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel Hamas war live updates: Dangerous not to have truce by Ramadan