This content was published on 13 February 2024 – 07:01
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Emily Rose and Trevor Honeycutt
DOHA/JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden and Jordanian King Abdullah II continued to press for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as mediators resumed work on Tuesday on a truce agreement between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) with an Israeli ground offensive. Rafah looms on the horizon.
Informed sources said that senior officials from the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar are expected to meet in Cairo, where they will work on a three-stage framework that includes releasing the hostages and declaring a long truce.
“The United States is working on a hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas that would lead to an immediate and sustainable period of calm in Gaza for at least six weeks,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday after talks with King Abdullah.
Biden added that he is working on the matter “day and night,” and that a six-week cessation of hostilities will provide the necessary foundation “to reach something more sustainable.”
For his part, King Abdullah stressed the urgency and seriousness of the Palestinians’ plight, saying, “The current situation is unbearable for more than a million people who have been displaced to Rafah since the beginning of the war.”
“We cannot stand by and let this situation continue,” he added.
He stressed, “The necessity of a permanent ceasefire now.” This war must end.”
Israel launched a rescue operation on Monday, during which it released two hostages, two Israeli-Argentines, held by Hamas militants in Rafah on the Egyptian border. The two men were among 250 people detained during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that sparked the war.
Palestine TV, the official television channel of the Palestinian Authority, said that 74 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli operation in Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the successful mission showed that military pressure must continue in Gaza, and brushed aside international concern about plans for an Israeli ground attack on Rafah, where Israel says there are Hamas forces.
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2024-02-13 06:01:44
