Washington is increasing pressure for an agreement to be found.
Joe Biden said on Monday that he was “hopeful” that a ceasefire would take place in Gaza “by next Monday”, as discussions continue towards an agreement including the release of held hostages by Hamas.
“My national security advisor (Jake Sullivan,
Editor’s note
) tells me that we are close, it’s not done yet.
I hope that by next Monday, we will have a cease-fire,” the American president told the press during a trip to New York.
Jake Sullivan said this Sunday that “common ground” had been found.
The mediating countries, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, are still trying to negotiate a compromise with both parties with a view to a truce.
According to a Hamas source, the discussions focus on the first phase of a plan drawn up in January by mediators, which provides for a six-week truce combined with the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners held by Israel, as well as the entry into Gaza of a large quantity of humanitarian aid.
Talks continue
But Israel is demanding the release of all hostages during the break and has warned that a truce would not mean the end of the war.
Even going so far as to assert on Sunday that an offensive would be launched on Rafah even in the event of an agreement.
Hamas, for its part, is demanding a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the lifting of the blockade imposed by Israel since 2007.
The truce will undoubtedly be on the menu of discussions between Emmanuel Macron and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim ben Hamad Al-Thani, received in Paris this Tuesday for a two-day state visit, while Qatar plays a role major in the issue of Hamas hostages and peace talks.
Meanwhile, the UN secretary-general warned on Monday that humanitarian aid programs to the Gaza Strip would end in the event of an offensive on the crowded town of Rafah, from which Israel wants to force civilians out of definitively defeat Hamas.
The offensive “would not only be terrifying for the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there;
it would also sound the death knell for our aid programs,” Antonio Guterres warned before the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
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Leaning against the closed border with Egypt, in the south of Gaza, Rafah is the only entry point for humanitarian aid which remains “totally insufficient”, he stressed, for the small Palestinian territory, besieged by Israel since the start of the war on October 7 against the Islamist movement.