“There was an agreement among the Israelis that they would not participate in any activities during the month of Ramadan… in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” Biden said during a surprise appearance on the talk show “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on Biden's statements.
Biden's close embrace of Israel has hurt him politically among young voters, progressives, people of color and Arab Americans — and on the eve of the Michigan primary.
Israel has in recent days signaled its willingness to participate more seriously in efforts led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to reach a weeks-long ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of many of the more than 100 remaining hostages held in the enclave. An Israeli delegation arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Monday for “lower-level technical talks,” a Western diplomat told The Washington Post.
Speaking on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, Netanyahu said “we are there” on the terms of the deal, but Hamas continues to make “strange demands.”
He added: “Obviously we want this deal if we can get it.” “It depends on Hamas – it's really their decision now. “I think the ground has been prepared, but they have to get on the field.”
Israeli officials made it clear that any agreement that results from the ongoing talks will not end the war.
An Israeli official told the newspaper that current discussions focus on a proposal to stop the fighting for a period of weeks, which may include the release of between 35 and 40 Israeli hostages. In return, according to a former Egyptian official familiar with the negotiations, Israel will release about 400 Palestinian prisoners, an average of 10 prisoners for each hostage. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
Israel launched its war after Hamas and allied militants poured into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage.
The former Egyptian official said that Israel wants female soldiers to be among the released prisoners in this group, but Hamas aims to keep them as a bargaining chip to reach a later agreement. Hamas asked Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Nations to be a guarantor of any agreement, so that Israel would not resume its attacks once the hostages were handed over.
Hamas is pressing for the release of a number of prominent Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat, and Abdullah Barghouti. But if Israel agrees, the former Egyptian official said, it wants to send these leaders into exile rather than return to the West Bank.
The former official added that despite the gaps that still exist between the two sides, Egypt is optimistic about the possibility of reaching a breakthrough by early next week.
But the Israeli official was more cautious.
The official said: “If the conditions requested by Israel had been accepted, the deal would have been completed today.” But at the moment there is no agreement, and the deadline is not Monday or Tuesday. “I don’t think we are close to reaching an agreement.”
The talks collapsed earlier this month after Netanyahu accused Hamas of making “fake demands” in a three-stage ceasefire proposal, which included a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Netanyahu has also faced pressure from far-right politicians — key allies holding his government together — who oppose the deal.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement on Monday that the movement is ready to negotiate and has shown “great seriousness and flexibility,” but he said that Israel is “procrastinating.”
A Hamas official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic, told the newspaper on Tuesday that Hamas “received a paper, and it is not a draft agreement, but rather ideas for discussion.”
Another representative of Hamas is Ahmed Abdel Hadi in Lebanon. Tell The Arab media channel Al-Mayadeen said that the group “will not give up any of its demands because the proposal does not satisfy it.”
Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is largely involved in the negotiations, according to the Israeli official. However, one Western diplomat familiar with the operation said it could take up to three days for messages from Doha to reach the tunnels under Gaza where he is believed to be.
Majid Al Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, also sought to downplay the progress of the ongoing talks in Doha. He said in a press conference on Tuesday: “We are optimistic in light of the continuation of talks between the two parties, but there is no special development that can be announced,” adding that “efforts are continuing” to reach an agreement.
The White House hopes to secure a temporary halt to the fighting — and much-needed relief for civilians in Gaza — before Ramadan, a time of fasting and celebration for Muslims around the world but historically a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ramadan is expected to begin around March 10.
The beginning of the holy month looms as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement, especially after Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, said earlier this month: “If our hostages are not in their homes by Ramadan, and Fighting is everywhere, including the Rafah area.”
More than 1.4 million Gazans seek refuge in Rafah, a small city along the border with Egypt. Many of them have been displaced several times due to fighting in the far north, and Israel has ordered them to seek refuge there. But as Israel winds down its operations in the southern city of Khan Yunis, officials say they intend to shift the army's focus to Rafah next.
Senior US officials said they would not support a ground offensive in Rafah without a “credible” plan to safely evacuate civilians there. Netanyahu told Fox & Friends that the “evacuation and humanitarian assistance” plan for civilians in Rafah was presented at a security cabinet meeting on Sunday.
But experts and aid organizations say such an evacuation would be impossible, given the number of people that would have to be moved and the widespread devastation left by nearly five months of Israeli attacks in much of the Gaza Strip.
These warnings are a sign of increasing international pressure on Israel to end or reduce its campaign in Gaza, which has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians and injured more than 70,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Hamas is also facing increasing pressure from displaced and desperate civilians in Gaza, where the catastrophic humanitarian situation there is pushing many towards famine.
“We are determined to stop the war. “There is nothing else we would like at this moment,” said Nada Al-Ramlawi, a 28-year-old displaced mother who lives with her son and other relatives in Rafah.
She added: “Politicians, especially Palestinian leaders, discuss truces and ceasefires as if we were in a normal state, oblivious to the ongoing loss of life.” “What are they waiting for?”
Basil Rajab (45 years old), who was displaced with his family from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, accused Hamas leaders in exile of frustrating civilians in the Strip.
“While they live a comfortable life in Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, we suffer from hunger, destitution and death. Who defends us? Who protects us?” He said. “We are trapped in a vicious circle, navigating through uncertainty in search of sustenance and security. Our longing to return to our homes, and to regain our former lives, is profound. Can this ambition be achieved? “I can't say that, but that's what we want very much.”
Sarah Dadoush in Amman, Jordan, and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
