The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas that would result in the release of 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire, the release of some Palestinian hostages, and humanitarian aid. According to two Egyptian officials, the latest round of discussions ended Tuesday with no resolution or agreement. Hamas presented a new proposal that mediators are set to discuss with Israel in the next few days. Mediators were hoping to reach an agreement before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but it is likely a ceasefire will not be agreed upon by March 10th.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan argued Tuesday for a permanent ceasefire, rather than a six-week temporary ceasefire, and a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli military forces from Gaza. “The security and safety of our people will be achieved only by a permanent cease-fire, the end of the aggression, and the withdrawal from every inch of the Gaza Strip,” Hamdan told reporters in Beirut.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected these demands and remains firm in continuing the war until Hamas is dismantled and all Israeli hostages are returned home.
Meanwhile, a quarter of Palestinians are facing starvation. Last week, more than 100 Palestinians in Northern Gaza were fatally shot or trampled to death while trying to receive aid from a supply convoy. The United States and Jordan airdropped 36,800 meals over northern Gaza on Tuesday.
“There are likely more children fighting for their lives somewhere in one of Gaza’s few remaining hospitals, and likely even more children in the north unable to obtain care at all,” the UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr, said in a statement. More than a dozen children have perished in Gaza from starvation and many more are at risk as disease, famine, and malnutrition spread. The World Food Program has recently suspended aid shipments to Northern Gaza due to a security breakdown.
President Joe Biden said that there are “no excuses for not letting aid into Gaza.” He continued to say “It’s in the hands of Hamas right now. The Israelis have been cooperating, [and] the offer [of a ceasefire] is rational. We’ll know in a couple of days. But we need the ceasefire.”
