Israel is prepared to suspend its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip during the upcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan if a deal is reached to free some hostages, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday.
Israel did not react to Biden’s comments about an upcoming framework deal brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar under which Hamas would release several dozen hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week cessation of hostilities. During the temporary pause, negotiations will continue for the release of the remaining hostages and other Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The start of Ramadan, which falls on 10 March, is seen as an unofficial deadline for a ceasefire agreement. The month is a time of increased religious observance and fasting from dawn to dusk for hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world. Israeli-Palestinian tensions have flared during the holy month in the past. Biden said in an appearance on NBC’s:
“Ramadan’s coming up and there has been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out.”
At the same time, Biden did not call for an end to the war, which was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October, when militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250, according to Israeli authorities.
Biden, who has shown strong support for Israel throughout the war, left open the question of a possible Israeli ground offensive on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have fled under Israeli evacuation orders.
The prospect of an invasion of Rafah has sparked worldwide alarm over the fate of Gaza civilians trapped there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a ground operation in Rafah is an inevitable component of Israel’s strategy to defeat Hamas. This week, the military submitted operational plans for the offensive, as well as plans to evacuate civilians, to the cabinet for approval.
Israel’s devastating air, sea and ground campaign in Gaza has killed more than 29,700 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The fighting has destroyed many residential buildings in Gaza, displacing 80 per cent of the enclave’s population and causing a humanitarian crisis that has starved a quarter of the population and raised fears of impending famine, according to the UN.
