Ceasefire talks in Gaza: Israel has largely accepted

(Patria) - Israel has "largely" accepted the ceasefire deal in Gaza, putting the ball in "Hamas's court," a US official said, as the US began delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza from the air.

“The deal is on the table. The Israelis have largely accepted it. A six-week ceasefire in Gaza could start as early as today if Hamas agrees to release a precisely defined category of vulnerable hostages,” a US official said ahead of expected continuation of negotiations, possibly today in Cairo.

Reuters news agency reported, citing Egyptian sources, that delegations from Israel and Hamas are expected to arrive in Cairo today. However, another Reuters source familiar with the negotiations said that Israel will not send a delegation until it receives a full list of hostages who are still alive.

“Talks are ongoing” to seal the deal before the start of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims which begins in a week, an official who wished to remain anonymous told AFP. According to him, significant progress has been made in recent weeks, but as always, “there is no deal until everything is agreed upon”.

“The Israelis have accepted the elements of the agreement in principle,” the official said. He specified that the six-week ceasefire is envisioned as the “first phase”, with the aim of achieving “something more lasting” to allow for much greater delivery of humanitarian aid.

Hamas has not abandoned its stance that a temporary ceasefire must be the beginning of a process towards a complete end to the war, Egyptian sources and a Hamas official told Reuters. Egyptian sources said, according to Reuters, that Hamas has been offered guarantees that the terms of a permanent ceasefire will be worked out in the second and third phases of the agreement.

The UN Security Council expressed “grave concern” on Saturday over the lack of food in the enclave and called for unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid “on a large scale”. Council members “called on all parties to refrain from denying the civilian population of the Gaza Strip basic services and humanitarian assistance essential for their survival,” the statement said.

The nearly five-month war in the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli army is bombing, has caused a serious humanitarian crisis and threatens famine, according to the UN. The US yesterday carried out its first airdrop of aid packages to Gaza using three C-130 aircraft.

The White House announced that the airdrops will be continuous and that Israel supports these actions. Three US military aircraft dropped packages with more than 38,000 meals on Saturday afternoon local time in Gaza, in cooperation with Jordan, the US Central Command for the Middle East (Centcom) announced.

Centcom added that it is working on planning “potential subsequent aid delivery missions”. US President Joe Biden stated on Friday that Washington will soon join “Jordan and other countries in delivering food and other goods by air” to Gaza.

Biden under pressure from the left wing of the party and Muslims
Biden also mentioned on Friday the “possibility of a maritime corridor for the transport of large quantities of aid”. But these two options – air delivery and sea deliveries – “cannot replace the entry of aid on a larger scale by land routes,” a senior US official warned on Saturday.

In the midst of the election campaign in the United States, President Biden, who is running for a second term, is under pressure from the left wing of his party and the Muslim community due to his support for Israel.

Fighting took place in the Gaza Strip in the early morning hours, and residents reported heavy shelling and tanks advancing around Khan Yunis, a city in the southern part of the Strip. Around Rafah, another southern city where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge on the border with Egypt, according to authorities, 25 people were killed yesterday and this morning.