A senior U.S. official says the framework for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza is in place and Israel has agreed.
The first pause in fighting since November hinges on whether Hamas agrees to the release of hostages deemed vulnerable, including the sick, wounded, elderly and women, and the United States. government officials said.
Israel also wants Hamas to agree to a ratio of Palestinian prisoner releases in exchange for each hostage, they said.
The Israelis “more or less accepted” the offer, they said, adding: “The hostages must be released.
“The deal is basically done. But I don’t want to create expectations in a certain way.
“The Israelis have essentially signed up to elements of the arrangement.
“Now, the ball is in Hamas’s court and we will continue to do our best to push this forward.”
Hamas said this week that some 70 prisoners had been killed as a result of Israeli military operations.
Israeli and Hamas delegations are expected to arrive in the Egyptian capital Cairo tomorrow to discuss the possibility of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Egyptian security sources said.
Another source with knowledge of the talks said Israel would not send a delegation until it had a complete list of the hostages still alive.
Egyptian sources said Hamas had been assured that the terms of a permanent ceasefire would be worked out in the second and third phases of the deal.
Egyptian sources and a Hamas official said Hamas has not abandoned its position that a temporary truce must be the beginning of a process to end the war for good.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House on Monday as Washington seeks a temporary ceasefire and increased aid to Gaza.
White House officials said the talks are expected to cover reducing Palestinian civilian casualties, securing a temporary ceasefire, releasing hostages held in Gaza and increasing aid to the region.
“The vice president will express her concerns for the safety of up to 1.5 million people in Rafah,” the official said, adding that Israel also had the “right to defend itself in the face of the ongoing Hamas terror threat.”
Earlier this week, 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 injured in Gaza City while waiting for an aid convoy.
Witnesses said nearby Israeli forces opened fire and large crowds scrambled to pull goods from the aid convoy.
Many people were injured and killed when they were hit by Israeli army fire as they tried to remove bags of flour from a convoy, the European Union’s foreign ministry said today.
Tel Aviv acknowledged that soldiers did start shooting but claimed many of the deaths were caused by stampedes.
The European External Action Service said “responsibility for this incident” lay with “restrictions imposed by Israeli forces” and “obstructions of humanitarian aid supplies by violent extremists.”
A quarter of Gaza’s population is one step away from famine, the United Nations says, as aid agencies warn of a growing humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave.
The US military airdropped its first humanitarian aid to Gaza today (March 2).
Three C-130 aircraft delivered more than 38,000 meals to one area, and Palestinians posted videos on social media showing relief supplies being dropped.
A U.S. official told Reuters the airdrops were carried out over southwestern Gaza and the town of Mawasi.
On October 7, the Hamas armed organization launched an attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Northern Gaza bore the brunt.
Gaza’s health ministry said the number of Palestinian war-related deaths has climbed to 30,320. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but said women and children accounted for about two-thirds of those killed.
In Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than half of the residents of the besieged area are now seeking refuge, the Israeli Defense Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on Saturday hit a tent outside an Emirati hospital, killing 11 people and wounding around 50. These include health workers.
Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive has reduced much of densely populated northern Gaza to rubble.
The military has asked Palestinians to move south, but up to 300,000 people are believed to remain in the northern part of the territory.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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