Fourth day of Gaza ceasefire negotiations amid US calls for swift resolution

Following US President Joe Biden’s plea for Hamas to reach a peace agreement with Israel before the beginning of Ramadan, international mediators were scheduled to meet with the organization for a fourth day on Wednesday in Cairo.

Plans to put a stop to the conflict that has raged since Hamas’s onslaught on October 7 have been discussed by envoys before the Muslim fasting month begins on Sunday or Monday, depending on when the full moon is visible.

In a coordinated effort with Egypt and France on Tuesday, US and Jordanian aircraft once again airdropped food supplies into the 2.4 million-person area of the beleaguered Gaza Strip, just as starvation poses a danger to the region.

In two hospitals in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization has warned that children are starving to death. US Vice President Kamala Harris has voiced “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza”.

Hamas and US envoys have been in Cairo meeting with Qatari and Egyptian mediators to work out a six-week ceasefire agreement, trade hundreds of Palestinian inmates for dozens of hostages still held, and increase assistance to Gaza.

According to Egypt’s intelligence agencies, Al-Qahera News said that the negotiations will resume on Wednesday.

Following the call for an “immediate ceasefire” by his senior diplomat, Antony Blinken, Biden issued a warning to Hamas to swiftly consent to a truce and a deal to release the hostages.

“Right now, it’s in the hands of Hamas,” the US president said to reporters in Maryland.

“There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan — if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”

He did not provide any details, but last week the United States asked Israel to let Muslims to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem, which is sometimes the site of conflicts during Ramadan.

The Israeli government said on Tuesday that “in similar numbers to those in previous years,” it would let Muslim pilgrims to enter the complex of the mosque in east Jerusalem that it has seized.

List of hostages

Israeli media has reported that Israeli negotiators skipped the Cairo negotiations because Hamas had not produced a list of the country’s surviving captives. As of yet, Israeli diplomats have not attended the discussions.

The hostages’ information had not been “mentioned in any documents or proposals circulated during the negotiation process,” according to senior Hamas official Bassem Naim.

“The Hamas movement has shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people,” the Islamist organization said in a statement.

“The movement will continue to negotiate through mediator brothers to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands and interests of our people.”

But Hamas leader in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, issued a warning, saying the organization would “not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely.”.

Of the 250 prisoners that Hamas forces captured on October 7, Israel has said that it thinks 130 of them are still in Gaza, while the remaining 31 are thought to be dead.

At their meeting, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan decided that “the release of sick, wounded, elderly, and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks.”.

According to a White House summary of the conference, the first phase of a ceasefire would allow “a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm”.

Hunger is imminent.

The United States, Israel’s closest friend, is criticizing Israel more and more as the situation in Gaza worsens.

On Monday, Harris visited Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington. The WHO said that 10 children had died of malnutrition at the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals over the weekend during an assistance trip.

Residents of Gaza’s southern metropolis, Khan Yunis, reported seeing decaying corpses strewn over the streets that are dotted with demolished structures.

“We want to survive and eat. Look around our residences. How am I to blame, alone, defenseless, unemployed individual in this destitute nation?” With charred palms, Nader Abu Shanab pointed at the debris and inquired.

In a cooperative effort with Jordan, American cargo aircraft airdropped over 36,000 meals into Gaza on Tuesday; according to Jordan, French and Egyptian planes were also involved.

An assistance convoy was turned away by the Israeli military at a checkpoint within Gaza, according to the UN World Food Programme, and it was subsequently plundered “by desperate people”.

The health ministry in the zone administered by Hamas reports that over 30,600 individuals have died as a result of Israel’s military onslaught, the majority of them were women and children.

An AFP count based on official Israeli numbers indicates that around 1,160 people died as a consequence of the October 7 Hamas onslaught on southern Israel.

Local repercussions

Violence has been caused by the conflict across the area, with Israeli troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization engaging in almost daily gun exchanges.

The US Navy said that on Tuesday, it shot down three drones and a missile that the Huthi rebels in Yemen had launched on one of its vessels in the Red Sea.

“One anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems” have been shot down, according to a statement from US Central Command.

The Huthis, who get funding from Iran, have been assaulting Red Sea trade for months, claiming that they are targeting Israeli-affiliated ships that aid the Palestinians in Gaza.

Their effort has significantly increased shipping prices and disrupted the important commercial route.

The Middle East has become more incensed by Israel’s Gaza assault, which has fueled bloodshed in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and other countries supported by Iran.