WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has said that a Gaza truce remained a possibility, despite Hamas and Israel trading blame as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv to push a deal.
President Joe Biden told media persons following spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat those dialogues were still underway and that “we are not giving up,” saying that an agreement was “still possible.”
Earlier, Antony Blinken has arrived in Israel seeking a Gaza ceasefire deal that could help avert a wider regional war, while a senior Hamas leader dismissed “American diktats” in talks, AFP reported.
Qatari, Egyptian and the US mediators have reported progress in talks to clinch a truce in the Gaza Strip, and a US official said remaining gaps were “bridgeable” but the current situation remains fraught with challenges.
The framework suggested by US President Joe Biden in late May, which has also been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), includes provisions for a temporary freeze on fighting, an exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
However, a senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri has criticized the talks, claiming that they amounted to the imposition of American terms rather than genuine talks. “What we are observing is not real talks but rather an imposition of American diktats,” Abu Zuhri told AFP, casting doubt on the optimism surrounding a potential agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated, exacerbated by recent events and the current Israeli violence. The Gaza Strip is grappling with a severe crisis, including a feared polio outbreak and widespread shortages of clean drinking water as well as food.
