Ceasefire in Gaza expected by next Monday: Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden said that he hopes that a ceasefire can be announced in Gaza as early as next week. Amid the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and elsewhere have acted as mediators between Israel and Hamas, seeking a halt to the fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Are demanding.

This deal may also include the exchange of dozens of hostages in exchange for several hundred Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. When asked about the agreement during his visit to New York, Biden said, "My National Security Advisor has told that we are close, we are close and our talks have not been completed yet." Biden said, "I hope that a ceasefire can be announced by next Monday."

Representatives of several parties, except Gaza ruler Hamas, met in Paris over the weekend and "agreed ... that the basic principles of the hostage agreement for a temporary ceasefire would be in place," White House national security adviser Jake Smith told CNN on Sunday. What will the outline be like?"

Following the Paris meeting, Egypt, Qatar and US "experts" met in recent days for talks in Doha, which were also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives. "A ceasefire is expected to be secured before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan," state-linked Egyptian media said.

A Hamas source said that "some new amendments" were proposed on controversial issues, but "Israel did not present any concrete position on the terms of the ceasefire and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a troop withdrawal as "illusory" and said any ceasefire agreement would delay a military incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinians live elsewhere in Gaza.

And Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani – whose country hosts Hamas leaders and who helped broker a week-long ceasefire in November – is due to arrive in Paris this week, the French president said. The official Qatar News Agency said Sheikh Tamim met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Doha and discussed efforts "aimed at reaching an immediate and permanent ceasefire agreement" in Gaza.

According to the ministry, at least 29,782 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza.