{"id":16164,"date":"2024-02-28T00:46:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/biden-says-israel-ready-for-ramadan-cease-fire-hamas-noncommittal\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T00:46:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:46:18","slug":"biden-says-israel-ready-for-ramadan-cease-fire-hamas-noncommittal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/biden-says-israel-ready-for-ramadan-cease-fire-hamas-noncommittal\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden says Israel ready for Ramadan cease-fire, Hamas noncommittal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Biden said Israel has agreed to a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but Hamas is not prepared to call a truce.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s remarks were recorded Monday and aired early Tuesday on NBC\u2019s \u2018Late Night with Seth Meyers.\u2019 He suggested that a cease-fire during Ramadan would give the U.S. time to secure the release of American hostages still held by Hamas, but officials from the terrorist group called his comments premature as it studies the cease-fire agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Ramadan is coming up, and there\u2019s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan, as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,\u2019 Biden told Meyers.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the president told reporters he hoped that a cease-fire would begin by at least \u2018the end of the weekend.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018At least, my national security advisor tells me that we\u2019re close. We\u2019re close. It\u2019s not done yet,\u2019 Biden said at an ice cream parlor near Peacock Network\u2019s headquarters after recording his interview with Meyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018And my hope is by next Monday, we\u2019ll have a cease-fire,\u2019 he added, mint ice cream cone in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hamas is reviewing a proposal agreed at a meeting in Paris last week between Israel, the United States and mediators from Egypt and Qatar, the most serious push for a cease-fire since the last truce collapsed after a week in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Biden struck an optimistic tone about the prospects for a truce, two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters said his comments were premature.<\/p>\n

One official said there were \u2018still big gaps to be bridged,\u2019 according to Reuters. \u2018The primary and main issues of the cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces are not clearly stated, which delays reaching an agreement.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another Hamas official close to the talks told Reuters that the draft proposal sent to Hamas was for a 40-day truce during which Hamas would free around 40 hostages \u2014 including women, those under 19 or over 50 years old, and the sick \u2014 in return for around 400 Palestinian detainees at a 10-for-one ratio.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, Israel would reposition its troops outside settled areas. Gaza residents, except for men of fighting age, would be permitted to return home to areas previously evacuated, and more aid would flow to Gaza, including equipment to house those who have lost their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Israel has not agreed to two key demands from Hamas \u2014 a commitment to end the war permanently and withdraw from Palestinian territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The offer also does not address the release of Israeli hostages who are soldiers or healthy men of fighting age, or a Hamas demand for as many as 1,500 detainees to be freed, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Delegations from Hamas and Israel are both in Qatar this week negotiating details of a potential cease-fire. They face an unofficial March 10 deadline, which would mark the start of Ramadan, a period that often sees heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden told NBC that Israel risks losing international support unless it takes steps to mitigate civilian casualties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0has said Israel will invade the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where 2.3 million Palestinians currently reside, including displaced people sleeping in makeshift tents or public buildings, whether or not a truce agreement is reached.<\/p>\n

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\u2018There are too many innocent people that are being killed. And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah,\u2019 Biden said, adding that Israel has committed to let Palestinians flee Rafah before the invasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Netanyahu earlier rejected as \u2018delusional\u2019 a Hamas counter-offer for a cease-fire in which all hostages would be released, Israel withdraws from Gaza and Israel and Hamas sign a treaty to end the war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The president also said a temporary cease-fire would create the conditions necessary for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n

\u2018That gives us time to begin to move in directions that a lot of Arab countries are prepared to move in.\u00a0For example, Saudi Arabia is ready to recognize Israel.\u00a0Jordan is.\u00a0Egypt \u2014 there are six other states.\u00a0I\u2019ve been working with Qatar,\u2019 Biden said.<\/p>\n

\u2018If we get \u2026 that temporary cease-fire, we\u2019re going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution immediately but a process to get to a two-state solution, a process to guarantee Israel\u2019s security and the independence of the Palestinians,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has rejected a two-state solution while Hamas exists. Israel has vowed to continue the war until the terrorist group is eradicated.<\/p>\n

Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that provoked the war. Israel retaliated with a bombardment campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, during which tens of thousands of Palestinians have died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u2019s Bradford Betz and Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Biden said Israel has agreed to a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but Hamas is not prepared to call a truce. The president\u2019s remarks were recorded Monday and aired early Tuesday on NBC\u2019s \u2018Late Night with Seth Meyers.\u2019 He suggested that a cease-fire during Ramadan would give <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}