US President Joseph Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today discussed the war in the Gaza Strip, the release of hostages and a ceasefire, the White House announced.
The two allied countries "discussed the ongoing issues of the release of hostages, as well as the current ceasefire in Gaza," according to a statement after the telephone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu.
Diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent days to achieve a ceasefire.
Officials from the Palestinian movement Hamas are due to travel to Egypt tomorrow to give their response to Israel's latest cease-fire offer.
Egypt, Qatar and the US have been trying to persuade Israel and Hamas to stop fighting since the end of a week-long ceasefire on December 1, which allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
(BETA)
Two senior Israeli officials today expressed their deep disagreements over a possible truce deal with the Palestinian Hamas movement, while talks are underway under the auspices of Egypt.
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the extreme right, said the ceasefire agreement would threaten Israel's existence and mean the end of the current government.
Smotrich posted the message intended for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Telegram, and analysts believe that the finance minister is implicitly threatening to overthrow the ruling coalition, which is the most "right-wing" government in the country so far.
Centrist Beni Gantz, former army chief of staff and member of the war cabinet, established at the start of the Gaza war on October 7, believes that the government will have no legitimacy if ministers block a plan to allow the release of the hostages.
Diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent days, with Hamas officials due to travel to Egypt tomorrow to give their response to Israel's latest cease-fire offer.
At the same time, the Israeli government continues preparations for the announced offensive on the Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. The authorities believe that Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas fighters, but the city is also home to 1,5 million civilians who fled the war from the rest of the Gaza Strip.
"Accepting the Egyptian proposal would be a humiliating surrender," said Smotrich, the leader of the religious nationalist party.
According to him, this would condemn the hostages to death and, above all, would represent "an immediate existential threat to the State of Israel."
Ganz assessed that the release of the hostages was more important than the offensive in Rafah.
If the ministers "prevent" the implementation of a "responsible plan for the return of the hostages, which does not imply the end of the war", then "the government will no longer have the legitimacy to rule or to conduct a military campaign", said Ganz.
Egypt, Qatar and the US have been trying to persuade Israel and Hamas to stop fighting since the end of a week-long ceasefire on December 1, which allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The war was launched on October 7 by an attack by members of Hamas on the southern part of Israel, which resulted in the death of at least 1.160 people, mostly civilians.
According to Israel, around 250 people were kidnapped at the time. Some have since been exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, while around 130 are still in Gaza, and more than 30 are believed to have died.
On the Palestinian side, 34.454 people died.
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The World Central Kitchen (SCK) said it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, a month after seven workers of the US-based charity were killed in an Israeli airstrike, reports Reuters.
Before the suspension of operations, the SCK had distributed more than 43 million meals in Gaza since October, which, according to its own calculations, represented 62% of all international NGO aid.
The charity said it had 276 trucks with the equivalent of nearly eight million meals ready to enter via the Rafah crossing and would also send trucks to Gaza from Jordan.
"The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity and focus on feeding as many people as possible," said the charity's chief executive, Erin Gore.
The April 1 deaths sparked widespread condemnation and demands from Israel's allies, including the US, for an explanation.
Israel said its investigations had uncovered serious mistakes and procedural violations by the country's military, firing two senior officers and reprimanding senior commanders.
SCK demands an independent investigation.
Israel's six-month war against Hamas in Gaza followed the militant group's attack on southern Israel on October 7 that took more than 250 hostages and killed about 1.200 people, according to Israeli figures. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 34.000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian disaster for more than two million residents of the enclave.
"We were forced to make a decision: to stop feeding completely during one of the worst hunger crises ever... Or to continue feeding knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed. These are the most difficult conversations and we have considered all perspectives. In the end, we decided that we must continue to feed, continuing our mission to provide food to people in the most difficult times," Gor said.
Israel has agreed to listen to the concerns and thoughts of the United States of America (USA) before launching an invasion of the border town of Rafah in Gaza, White House spokesman for national security John Kirby said today, reports Reuters.
The Israeli army is ready to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah and attack Hamas, a senior Israeli military official said on Wednesday, despite international warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
Washington said it could not support Operation Rafa without a proper and credible humanitarian plan.
"They assured us that they would not go to Rafah until we had a chance to really share our perspectives and concerns with them," Kirby told the ABC.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is due to visit the region next week, and Kirby said he would continue to press for a temporary ceasefire that Washington wants to last for at least six weeks.
A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire, a Hamas official told Reuters.
"What we're hoping is that after six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, we might be able to establish something more permanent," said Kirby, who also noted that the number of aid trucks in northern Gaza is starting to increase.
"The Israelis have begun to fulfill the obligations that (US) President (Joseph) Biden has asked them to fulfill," he said.
Earlier this month, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protect Palestinian civilians and foreign aid workers in Gaza or Washington could curb support for Israel in its war against Hamas militants.
A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza, said a Hamas official, who asked not to be named.
He told Reuters that the delegation would discuss the proposed ceasefire proposed by the mediators, as well as Israel's response.
At least 34.454 Palestinians have been killed and 77.575 injured in the Israeli offensive on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
About 66 Palestinians were killed and 138 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry said, Reuters writes.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that the Israeli army will launch a ground offensive on the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, in the next few days, reports Reuters.
There are currently about 1,45 million people in Rafah, most of whom were previously displaced from other parts of the enclave, while concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza are growing.
Abbas pointed out that the US is the only country that can prevent an Israeli attack on Rafah.
The Palestinian president expressed concern about the forced displacement of the Palestinian population from the West Bank, after the Israeli army "finished with Gaza".
Abbas emphasized that the Palestinian self-government refuses to accept the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from both territories and added that the Palestinian authorities demand that the conflict be stopped and that the population be granted aid.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejourne said he would present proposals to Lebanese officials with the aim of easing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel and preventing the outbreak of war, reports Reuters.
"If I look at the situation today, and if there was no war in Gaza, we could be talking about a war in southern Lebanon because of the number of attacks and the impact in that area," Sejurne said after visiting the United Nations Peacekeeping Organization in Lebanon.
Conflict between Israel and Hamas - 205th day.
A senior Qatari official today called on Israel and Hamas to show "more commitment and seriousness" in truce talks, as pressure mounts on both sides to strike a deal that would free Israeli hostages and end the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.
In an interview with Israel's Haaretz daily and Khan Public Service, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari expressed disappointment with Hamas and Israel, saying they made their decisions based on political interests rather than the welfare of civilians.
He did not reveal details about the current state of negotiations, other than to say that they are "virtually broken" and that "both sides are entrenched in their positions." "If there is a renewed sense of commitment on both sides, I'm sure we can reach an agreement," he added.
Qatar, where Hamas is headquartered, is a key mediator during the war between Israel and Hamas. Along with the US and Egypt, Qatar was instrumental in negotiating a brief ceasefire in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages.
Since then, there have been numerous rounds of negotiations, but none have led to an additional truce.
In a sign of its displeasure, Qatar announced last Sunday that it was reviewing the mediator's role in the negotiations.
(BETA)
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