United States President Joe Biden said he was optimistic that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could be agreed to by the end of this week. Even so, Biden's statement is considered premature because Israel and Hamas are still studying the agreement.
“Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend, I mean the end of the weekend.”
At the weekend, that was United States President Joe Biden's answer when asked when a ceasefire would occur in Gaza.
Biden expressed hope that the ceasefire would occur before Monday (4/3) next week on Monday (26/2), after he admitted that he had received relevant information from the White House security advisor.
Negotiation efforts to temporarily stop fighting between Israel and Hamas are primarily aimed at freeing hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinians who are their prisoners.
A 40-day ceasefire was proposed in these negotiations, including allowing hundreds of aid trucks to enter Gaza every day.
The parties involved in the negotiations are faced with an unwritten deadline, namely the start of the month of Ramadan around March 10. History shows that tensions between Israel and Palestine often increase during this holy month.
Even so, Qatar, as the mediator in the ceasefire negotiations, admitted that he could not comment on the statement made by Biden. The reason is, according to Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari, there has been no breakthrough that can be announced regarding the ceasefire agreement and the prisoners.
Al-Ansari also explained in a press conference held on Tuesday (27/2) that Qatar “continues to encourage” Israel and Hamas to accept the agreement proposal made in Paris last week.
“We see a positive direction from the meeting, but there is no final agreement yet. Hopefully we can announce it at the start of Ramadan – a humanitarian break that can ease tensions, and allow us to bring in aid to Gaza. “Tensions will start to decline from there,” said Al-Ansari.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas previously occurred in November 2023 for one week. More than 100 Israeli prisoners were released by Hamas, and Israel released three times that number of Palestinian prisoners.
Over the past few weeks, both Israel and Hamas have publicly maintained different positions regarding a possible ceasefire deal, while blaming each other for the delays.
Israel says that it will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed. Meanwhile Hamas said that they would not release the hostages without a commitment to end the war permanently.
A number of high-ranking Hamas officials even said that Biden's statement regarding the ceasefire was too early to convey. (ti/hour)