Last night Israel bombed again in Rafah, one of the zones that was initially supposed to be ‘safe’. — © REUTERS
US President Joe Biden is hopeful that a ceasefire can come into effect on Monday. There would be a proposal for a 40-day pause in all military operations and an exchange of hostages and prisoners. Reuters reports this. But Hamas says it has not yet received a proposal.
A senior source told Reuters on Tuesday morning what the proposed ceasefire agreement would entail. Destroyed bakeries and hospitals would have to be repaired, 500 aid trucks would have to enter the Gaza Strip every day and thousands of tents and caravans would have to be delivered to accommodate the displaced.
The draft also states that Hamas would release 40 Israeli hostages, including women, children under 19, the elderly over 50 and the sick. Israel would release about 400 Palestinian prisoners and would not arrest them again, the source told Reuters.
The Gaza truce talks appear to be the most serious effort in weeks to stop fighting in the battered Palestinian enclave and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages.
Mediators have stepped up efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in the hope of averting an Israeli attack on the southern city of Rafah, which is home to more than a million displaced people.
However, Hamas told Sky News that it has not yet received a formal proposal regarding the ceasefire.
Monday or close to Ramadan
It is not yet clear when the ceasefire will come into effect, but US President Joe Biden is hopeful that it could happen as early as Monday. “My hope is that we have a ceasefire next Monday … my national security adviser tells me we’re close,” Joe Bident said in New York Monday after an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night.”
On the other hand, he also spoke of a break due to Ramadan. “Ramadan is coming and the Israelis had agreed not to conduct operations during Ramadan to give us time to free all hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.” Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of March 10 and end on the evening of April 9.
Last weekend, Israel’s war cabinet approved the terms of a deal to pause fighting for several weeks in exchange for the release of hostages in Gaza. In a protracted effort to broker a ceasefire, Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and others have acted as mediators for Israel and Hamas.
Joe Biden during the filming of ‘Late Night’ in New York. — © AFP