U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages was in the hands of Hamas, as delegations held a third day of talks with no sign of a breakthrough.
Negotiators from the Palestinian militant group, Qatar and Egypt - but not Israel - are in Cairo trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire in Hamas' war with Israel in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins early next week.
"Hamas understands military pressure and we are bringing it to them" Biden said.
Washington, Israel's main political and military backer and a sponsor of the talks, also put the onus squarely on Gaza's rulers.
"It’s in the hands of Hamas right now. Israelis have been cooperating. There’s been a rational offer," Biden told reporters.
"If we get to the circumstance that it [fighting] continues to Ramadan... it’s gonna be very dangerous."
Hamas official Osama Hamdan repeated his group's main demands: an end to the Israeli military offensive, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the return of all Gazans to the homes they had been forced to flee.
He said any exchange of prisoners cannot take place except after a ceasefire, reflecting Hamas' view that a ceasefire must, above all, be a step towards a settlement of the conflict.
@JudiciaryAlexDemocrat3mos3MO
"If Biden has his way with Israel on his cease fire, peace plans, it will only happen all over again".
no matter what America does, this war has been going on since the end of WWII and will probably go on for the rest of time.
@W3lfareSophieRepublican3mos3MO
Not if Israel wipes out Hamas, Hezbollah and the PA. But America will have to do something about Iran which is supplying the weapons and money to their terrorist surrogates. Not likely as long as Obama-Jarrett-Biden are in charge of foreign policy.
@JovialPiePatriot3mos3MO
The Biden regime’s invitation to host Benny Gantz at the White House is another attempt in their effort to undermine and destabilize the Israeli government. This would be like Netanyahu inviting Trump to lead the US negotiations in Gaza. Obama, Biden and Blinkey are all anti-semites, so we should expect this kind of garbage out of this White House.
@WholesomeS3nateGreen3mos3MO
Genocide of civilians are happening in front of our eyes and this so-called civilized Western society is watching it helplessly. The Biden administration on the one hand saying that innocents are being killed and on the other hand supplying all these bombs to kill. It is a pure evil and hypocrisy. Every time USA veto the UN peace resolution. Anywhere you go around the world, you will find anger against the USA and Israel. Foreign policy of USA is a total blunder now. It will definitely affect Biden reelection.
This is so true. The world is watching in horror. People here too are getting fed up, who were sympathetic. Once the ceasefire ends (if it comes) they will raise Raffa. Will the people be kicked out of Gaza? Nobody thinks they will be able to come back. The world is horrified at what can be at best called collateral genocide which seems partly intentional.
It's not just the left protesting but people in general are shocked and that will continue as this gets worse. This is going to be like Vietnam for Biden. Also, Netanyahu talked about a protected war on many fronts. Nobody wants this, but Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah will likely drawn in. It will destabilize the world and be very bloody and achieve nothing good.
@P0pul1stLaylaWorking Family3mos3MO
The United Kingdom fire bombed Dresden in 1944. There was no military value in fire bombing Dresden, and it resulted in the death of 100,000 civilians. The same thing happened when the United States firebomb Tokyo in 1945. About the same amount of innocent civilians were killed then too. Also, no military value. The purpose was to end the war, and also to exact retribution. I don’t see any armchair generals, mentioning any of these other wartime atrocities committed by the victors of the second world war. Israel would’ve been justified and completely annihilating Gaza because that… Read more
@PacifistMadisonSocialist3mos3MO
It appears to me that the legitimacy Israel painstakingly build up over a series of decades was based upon a web of lies and propaganda. Israel’s biggest issue is that they’ve forced many people (especially here, in America) to form independent views of the history of the conflict, and any analysis of that objectively harms Israel.
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
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