Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure grows on Israel over Rafah and ceasefire talks
Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure grows over Rafah and Gaza ceasefire talks
(about 5 hours later)
US president and Israeli PM talk as Israel vows to invade Gaza city despite global concern for 1 million Palestinians sheltering there
US president and Israeli PM talk as Israel vows to invade southern Gaza city despite global concern for 1 million Palestinians sheltering there
The White House on Sunday said Joe Biden had again spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
Joe Biden “reiterated his clear” opposition to an invasion of Rafah in a conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire to the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
There were no immediate details of the conversation, which took place as Israel vows to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there. The US secretary of state is returning to the Middle East on Monday.
In the face of global concern for the more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering in the southern city, the White House said Biden told the Israeli prime minister that the US would oppose the offensive unless adequate provisions were made to move and care for the more than a million Palestinians sheltering there.
A senior official from key intermediary Qatar, meanwhile, urged Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in negotiations. Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s headquarters in Doha, was instrumental along with the US and Egypt in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages. But in a sign of frustration, Qatar this month said that it was reassessing its role.
The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, claimed the Israeli government had assured Washington that it would take US views into consideration before launching the offensive.
An Israeli delegation is expected in Egypt in the coming days to discuss the latest proposals in negotiations, and senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a message to the Associated Press that a delegation from the group will also head to Cairo. Egypt’s state-owned al-Qahera TV said the delegation would arrive on Monday.
“They’ve assured us that they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them,” Kirby told ABC television on Sunday.
The comments by Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari in interviews with the liberal daily Haaretz and Israeli public broadcaster Kan were published and aired Saturday evening.
On Sunday, health officials in Gaza said Israeli airstrikes on three houses in Rafah had killed 13 people and wounded many others.
Al-Ansari expressed disappointment with Hamas and Israel, saying each side has made decisions based on political interests and not with civilians’ welfare in mind. He didn’t reveal details on the talks other than to say they have “effectively stopped”, with “both sides entrenched in their positions”.
Biden and Netanyahu also reviewed the state of hostage negotiations, ahead of a new round of talks in Cairo, as a senior official from key intermediary Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in the negotiations.
Al-Ansari’s remarks came after an Egyptian delegation discussed with Israeli officials a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss developments.
The comments by Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari in interviews with the liberal daily Haaretz and Israeli public broadcaster Kan were published and aired on Saturday evening.
The Egyptian official said that Israeli officials are open to discussing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as part of the second phase of a deal. Israel has refused to end the war until it defeats Hamas.
Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s headquarters in Doha, was instrumental along with the US and Egypt in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages. But in a sign of frustration, Qatar this month said it was reassessing its role.
The second phase would start after the release of civilian and sick hostages, and would include negotiating the release of soldiers, the official added. Senior Palestinian people in prison would be released and a reconstruction process launched.
Al-Ansari expressed disappointment with Hamas and Israel, saying each side had made decisions based on political interests and not with civilians’ welfare in mind. He didn’t reveal details on the talks other than to say they had “effectively stopped”, with “both sides entrenched in their positions”.
Negotiations earlier this month centered on a six-week ceasefire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages held by Hamas in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian people in Israeli jails.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday for diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, to discuss ceasefire negotiations and humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
An Israeli delegation is expected in Egypt in the coming days to discuss the latest proposals in negotiations, and senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a message to the Associated Press that a delegation from the group would also head to Cairo.
Egyptian officials have stepped up their efforts to mediate talks between Hamas and Israel, after a new proposal that would initially see a small number of hostages held in Gaza released in exchange for Palestinians in the territory to be able to return to their homes.
An Egyptian official told Associated Press that mediators were working on a compromise solution to answer both parties’ main concerns, intended to set the stage for further negotiations to end the war entirely.
A letter written by the US president and 17 other world leaders urged Hamas to release the hostages immediately. Hamas in recent days has released new videos of three hostages, an apparent push for Israel to make concessions.
A letter written by the US president and 17 other world leaders urged Hamas to release the hostages immediately. Hamas in recent days has released new videos of three hostages, an apparent push for Israel to make concessions.
The growing pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire deal is also meant to avert an Israeli attack on Rafah, the city on the border with Egypt, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is seeking shelter.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed increases in the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Gaza “including through preparations to open new northern crossings starting this week”, a White House account of the call said. The US president stressed that progress in aid entering the coastal strip be “sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organisations”.
Israel has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles. The planned incursion has raised global alarm.
With the Associated Press
“Only a small strike is all it takes to force everyone to leave Palestine,” Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas asserted to the opening session of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia, adding that he believed an invasion would happen within days.
But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC that Israel “assured us they won’t go into Rafah until we’ve had a chance to really share our perspectives and concerns with them. So, we’ll see where that goes.”
The Israeli troop buildup may also be a pressure tactic on Hamas in talks. Israel sees Rafah as Hamas’s last major stronghold. It vows to destroy the group’s military and governing capabilities.
Aid groups have warned that an invasion of Rafah would worsen the already desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, where famine is widespread. About 400 tons of aid arrived Sunday at the Israeli port of Ashdod, the largest shipment yet by sea via Cyprus, according to the United Arab Emirates. It wasn’t immediately clear how or when it would be delivered into Gaza.
Also on Sunday, World Central Kitchen said that it would resume operations in Gaza on Monday, ending a four-week suspension after Israeli military drones killed seven of its aid workers. The organization has 276 trucks ready to enter through the Rafah crossing and will also send trucks into Gaza from Jordan, a statement said. It’s also examining if the Ashdod port can be used to offload supplies.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on 7 October into southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities, who say another 250 people were taken hostage. Hamas and other groups are holding about 130 people, including the remains of about 30, say Israeli authorities.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Hamas has killed more than 34,000 people, most of them women and children, according to health authorities in Gaza, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for civilian casualties, accusing it of embedding in residential and public areas. It says it has killed at least 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.
