Hamas holds key to ceasefire, says Joe Biden after peace talks falter
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Joe Biden has said a ceasefire deal is in the hands of Hamas as he urged the terror group to accept an Israeli proposal for a pause in fighting.
The US president also warned of imminent danger if a deal was not in place before Ramadan, after another day of talks in Cairo ended without an agreement on Tuesday.
“It’s in the hands of Hamas right now,” Mr Biden. “The Israelis have been co-operating, the offer (of a ceasefire) is rational. We’ll know in a couple of days. But we need the ceasefire.”
The talks broke down after Hamas refused to provide a list confirming which hostages in Gaza are still alive.
The Hamas delegation said it would remain in Egypt for more negotiations, despite Israel withdrawing its team over the hostages row.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, “doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court”.
The deal on the table reportedly involves Hamas releasing all women, children and wounded hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, to a ratio of about one hostage to 10 prisoners.
It also allows for hundreds of aid lorries to enter Gaza during a 40-day pause in fighting.
Mr Biden said that it was up to Hamas whether to accept an offer for a six-week truce, while warning Israel there were “no excuses” for failing to let aid through.
Airdrops of aid packages into the besieged territory of 2.4 million people ordered by the US president continued on Tuesday. Mr Biden said: “I’m working with them (Israel) very hard. We must get more aid into Gaza. There’s no excuses, none.”
The US president also said a deal needed to be struck before Ramadan on March 10, when tensions in Jerusalem traditionally rise between hardline Jews and Muslims.
He said: “There’s got to be a ceasefire because [of] Ramadan – if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”
Israel has said it is interested only in a temporary truce during which more hostages would be freed. Hamas says it wants any deal to lead to a permanent end to hostilities.
Egyptian security sources said US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators were seeking to overcome this difference by offering separate guarantees to Hamas of peace talks to end the war.
The sides need to resolve a Hamas demand for all Gaza residents to be allowed to return to abandoned homes during the truce, as well as Israel’s demand for the list of hostages, the Egyptian sources said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has said there is “extreme” malnutrition in Gaza, with one in six children under the age of two at risk of starvation. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that 15 Palestinian children have died in recent days from dehydration and malnutrition.
In Khan Younis, where fighting continues, Palestinian residents have said that there are decomposing bodies left in the streets. The Gazan health ministry said 17 people were killed in one of many Israeli airstrikes launched near the city.
Mr Biden also brushed off suggestions of tensions with Mr Netanyahu as Washington presses Israel over civilian deaths, and after one of the Israeli prime minister’s rivals in the war cabinet visited the White House on Monday.
He said their relationship was “like it’s always been”.
Israeli soldier stabbed in West Bank
Also on Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was seriously injured in a stabbing attack at the Yitzhar Junction in the northern West Bank. The teenage Palestinian attacker was shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
Donald Trump, the former US president, claimed in a TV interview that the Oct 7 attacks and ensuing war would not have happened had he been in charge instead of Mr Biden.
“It would have never happened if I was president. Iran was broke. They had no money for Hamas, for Hezbollah, they were broke,” he said in a Fox News telephone interview.
“They wouldn’t have done it to me. I guarantee you that. They did this because they have no respect for Biden.”
On Tuesday night, crowds of relatives of the hostages in Gaza gathered outside the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv for the second time this week, demanding a deal be struck on bringing home their loved ones.
