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US President Joe Biden said he is hopeful that a temporary Gaza ceasefire could begin as soon as Monday, as American officials press hard to revive a stalled diplomatic process.
Biden’s upbeat assessment on Monday came after officials made further progress in negotiations at the weekend to release hostages being held by Hamas. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close,” Biden said, responding to a shouted question from reporters as he visited an ice cream shop in New York with talk-show host Seth Meyers. “It’s not done yet. And my hope is that, by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.”
US, western and Arab officials expect that a fresh ceasefire and hostage exchange could mark a new phase in the war, creating momentum for longer-term arrangements for Israel and the Palestinian territories, including a pathway to an independent Palestinian state and a deal to normalise Israel-Saudi relations.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan offered a similar analysis on Sunday, telling CNN that negotiators from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar reached an understanding on “the basic contours” of a deal during talks in Paris and that he expected a “firm and final agreement” in the coming days.
A person briefed on the talks said progress had been made in the French capital, and an Israeli technical team was due in Doha to discuss the proposal. Hamas was reviewing the Paris framework, the person added. Israel’s war cabinet has also approved a rough outline of the deal, according to Israeli media.
While exact details are vague, any new deal would follow the contours of a November hostage-for-prisoner exchange, when more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages were swapped for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The exchanges would coincide with a ceasefire that would run through the holy month of Ramadan, which begins March 10. Humanitarian assistance to Gaza would also be increased.
Israel, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a new offensive in Rafah, a city near the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt. The US has urged Israel not to proceed with any such operation unless it has a plan to adequately protect hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians who have fled there. The prospect of an assault has raised fears of additional devastating harm to Palestinian civilians.
Biden is under intense political pressure to try to bring about an end to the fighting, which is increasingly unpopular with his Democratic base. Michigan, a crucial state in the November presidential election, is home to a large Arab American population, and some have threatened to withhold their support from Biden. The extent of that impact could become clear on Tuesday, when Michigan holds its presidential primary election.
In another sign of how the war has inflamed public opinion, an active member of the US Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington on Sunday in protest of civilian deaths in Gaza. He later died of his injuries, according to police and military officials.
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London
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