President Biden pushes for ceasefire in Gaza amid challenges. File. | Photo credit: AP
President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, as the United States presses Israel and Hamas to agree on a “bridging proposal” that could lead to a ceasefire. War in Gaza,
Hamas and Israel have indicated that challenges remain amid significant differences over the presence of Israeli troops in two strategic corridors to Gaza and other issues, dimming Mr Biden’s hopes that a deal could be reached soon. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is in Chicago this week to accept her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, also joined the call.
The White House said in a statement that Mr Biden “emphasized the urgent need to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.” The two leaders also discussed how a ceasefire and hostage release agreement could be finalized. High-level talks will take place this week in Cairo between mediators from the United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar. Working on the “remaining obstacles” to an agreement.
But at least in the near future, there appears to be little hope that the deal will be completed.
The president said on Friday he was “optimistic” that an agreement could be reached after speaking by phone with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, whose country is a key mediator with Hamas.
But until Tuesday, Mr Biden had been noticeably quiet about the prospects of the two sides reaching a deal soon. After delivering a speech at the Democratic convention, he told reporters that “Hamas is now retreating” but that the US would “keep trying” to reach a ceasefire agreement.
The president spoke to the Israeli prime minister from Santa Ynez, California, where he is vacationing with his family at the 8,000-acre estate of medical technology tycoon and Democratic donor Joe Biden.
The White House said Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu discussed growing tensions between Israel and Iran, and tensions with terrorist groups backed by Tehran – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
The call came ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meetings this week with officials from Israel, Egypt and Qatar and a new round of talks in Cairo later this week.
“This is a defining moment, perhaps the best, perhaps the last, opportunity to bring the hostages back home, achieve a ceasefire and put everyone on a better path to lasting peace and security,” Mr. Blinken said after meeting with Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Monday.
Egyptian officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Hamas will not agree to the bridge construction proposal There are several reasons for this – one being that there have long been doubts about whether the agreement would actually remove Israeli forces from Gaza and end the war.
An Egyptian official with direct knowledge of the talks, requesting anonymity, said the bridging proposal required the implementation of the first phase of the deal, under which Hamas would release the most vulnerable civilian hostages captured in the October 7 Israeli attack that sparked the war. During the first phase the parties would negotiate a second and third phase with no “guarantees” to Hamas from Israel or the mediators.
The official said the proposal did not explicitly state that Israel would withdraw its troops from two strategic corridors in Gaza, the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. Israel offered to reduce the number of its troops in the Philadelphi corridor in exchange for a “promise” to withdraw from the area, the official said.
Hamas wants a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, including the Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow 14.5-kilometre (nine-mile) long strip of land along the coastal territory’s southern border with Egypt.
Mr Netanyahu met with right-wing groups representing families of fallen soldiers and hostages in Gaza earlier this week. The groups, which oppose the ceasefire deal, said he told them that Israel would not give up two strategic corridors into Gaza. Mr Netanyahu’s office did not comment on the groups’ statements.
Blinken said after his visit to Egypt and Qatar that the bridging proposal is “very clear on the schedule and locations of the (Israeli military) withdrawal from Gaza,” but no details have been revealed on either.