According to reports, the US president has proposed that a ceasefire could aid in securing the release of some hostages held by Hamas.
According to reports, US President Joe Biden has pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put an end to attacks against Hamas for a three-day period. He claimed that this would allow negotiations to achieve the release of other hostages.
Axios reported on Tuesday that Hamas would verify the identity of its remaining detainees and free 10 to 15 hostages during a three-day ceasefire as part of a deal that is now under discussion between the US, Israel, and Qatar. The site quoted an unnamed US official to report that the militant organisation would also deliver a list of those hostages.
According to the article, Biden and Netanyahu spoke over the phone on Monday and talked about the plan. US officials have stated time and time again in recent days that tactical pauses could be used to free hostages, get more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and allow more Palestinian civilians to leave the area where Israel’s incursion has been concentrated, even though they still oppose a general ceasefire in the war with Hamas.
Netanyahu has categorically rejected the idea of a truce, claiming that requests for it amount to “calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas.” He has insisted that before any ceasefire is taken into consideration, all 240 of the hostages that Hamas is currently holding must be freed.
On Monday, he did, however, tell ABC News that brief pauses might be allowed to allow for the delivery of relief and the rescue of hostages. “We’ve had tactical little pauses before, an hour here, an hour there,” he remarked. “I guess we’ll assess the situation to see if we can free our hostages—individual hostages or humanitarian supplies—to leave.”
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On October 7, Hamas militants launched surprise strikes against villages in southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,400 people. The group also claimed to have captured enough hostages to guarantee the release of all Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
Israeli forces freed two American captives out of the four hostages, and they also freed a soldier who had been taken prisoner by Hamas. In a statement released on Tuesday, the group stated that it was ready to free twelve foreign nationals, but Israeli bombings and ground assaults prevented it from doing so.
Axios reported, citing unnamed US and Israeli officials, that Netanyahu said Biden that he doesn’t think Hamas is ready to accept a hostage deal and that he doesn’t trust the organisation. During a three-day break, he also hinted that Israel would lose support from other countries for its incursion. Netanyahu stated that during a humanitarian break in its 2014 fight with West Jerusalem, Hamas assaulted and seized one Israeli soldier.
Netanyahu told ABC that attempts to liberate further hostages will be hampered by a ceasefire. He declared, “The military pressure we’re applying is the only thing that works on these criminals in Hamas.”
