US President Joe Biden has expressed optimism about an imminent ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza war. “My national security adviser tells me we are close,” he said while eating ice cream in New York in response to a question from the press present. We haven’t reached our goal yet. “I hope that we will have a ceasefire by next Monday,” Biden said.
The US government has been negotiating for weeks about a new ceasefire, which, among other things, should enable the release of all hostages. However, it is uncertain whether international mediators will be able to negotiate such a deal by the start of the Muslim fasting month on March 10.
The media had previously reported that the difficult negotiations were not making progress. Israeli television channels Channel 12 and Kan quoted officials as saying that a negotiating framework proposed by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States remained inconsistent with Hamas’ demands. Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of adopting a blockade stance.
