Biden hopeful Gaza truce to begin next week

GAZA STRIP: A fresh ceasefire between Israel and Hamas might begin as early as March 4 and run until Ramadan, according to US President Joe Biden, who also mentioned the possibility of freeing Israeli captives in Gaza.

In the long-running effort to broker a truce, mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have been presenting recommendations to the parties, with conversations continuing underway.

They are requesting a six-week stop to warfare and the release of prisoners.

According to media sources, the peace arrangement could entail the release of hundreds of Palestinian captives detained by Israel.

"My hope is that by next Monday (March 4), we'll have a ceasefire," Biden said in response to a query on when a truce may begin, adding, "We're close, but we're not done yet."

Negotiators offer a six-week respite in fighting and an agreement to exchange prisoners.

He later indicated that a "in principle" arrangement for a temporary truce lasting till Ramadan was in the works.

Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in Paris on Tuesday. His country hosts Hamas leaders and helped engineer a one-week truce in November.

According to the official Qatar News Agency, Sheikh Tamim met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha as part of his efforts to reach a "immediate and permanent ceasefire agreement".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that any truce would only postpone, not prevent, a ground assault of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip.

There has been significant international pressure, especially from the United States, on Israel to delay sending troops into Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinian people have taken safety.

Netanyahu's office stated on Monday that the Israeli military has shown the "war cabinet" its plan for evacuating civilians from Rafah, but no information about where those displaced people could go has been provided.

Final nail in the coffin.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that an assault on Rafah, Gaza's entry route for badly needed relief supplies, would "put the final nail in the coffin" of assistance operations. "Nothing can justify Hamas's deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians" and/or "nothing warrants the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," Guterres said during a news conference on Monday.

‘Targeted raids’

Israel launched more than 50 attacks on Tuesday, with Rafah and Khan Yunis being the primary targets.

The Israeli army said forces conducted "targeted raids" in the Zeitun neighborhood of central Gaza, among other sites.

According to the health ministry, Israeli forces murdered 29,878 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of them were women and children.

Starving Gazans

As most aid vehicles have been delayed, desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza have scavenged for food, with many individuals eating animal feed and leaves.

"We don't have flour or anything. "We are experiencing famine," said Umm Tahse¬ini Al Masry, a Palestinian relocated to the Jabalia refugee camp north of Gaza City.

The Jordanian army claimed it carried out a series of humanitarian supplies drops, while Human Rights Watch accused Israel of starving Gaza's 2.4 million population.

According to UNRWA, humanitarian assistance into Gaza has been cut in half this month compared to January. Israeli officials say they are allowing help into Gaza, but supplies are stuck within the enclave.