Israel has agreed to a four-hour daily humanitarian pause in its attack on Hamas in northern Gaza to free the hostages, the White House announced.
Joe Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Monday to introduce daily breaks.
The timing of each pause will be announced three hours in advance and will begin today, White House national security spokesman John Kirby confirmed.
This came as Biden said he had dim hopes for a long-term ceasefire in Gaza and Israeli troops fighting a brutal street war with Hamas.
Fighting has intensified in the 34 days since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7, and tensions in the region have led to attacks on American forces by Iranian-backed proxies.
According to the White House, Israel has agreed to four-hour daily humanitarian breaks in its attack on Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip to free the hostages
Biden also warned that he was prepared to order more airstrikes in the Middle East in retaliation for attacks on US troops.
The president said he sent two F-15s to attack Iranian Revolutionary Guard weapons depots in Syria because “they hit us.”
Asked about the “chances” of a ceasefire in Gaza outside the White House before a trip to Illinois, he replied: “None. ‘No possibility.’
He added that the US was still “optimistic” that all hostages captured during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack would be released.
“We won’t stop until we get them out,” he said.
The Biden administration says it has created a second route for civilians to flee the fighting.
Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to introduce the daily breaks during a Monday call.
Before boarding Air Force One and flying to Illinois, he indicated that he was frustrated with Netanyahu because the pause “lasted a little longer than I had hoped.”
Kirby said: “Israel will begin implementing four-hour breaks in areas of the northern Gaza Strip every day, with notice to be given three hours in advance.”
“The Israelis have informed us that there will be no military operations in these areas during the duration of the pause (and) that this process begins today.”
The move was announced as President Joe Biden said he had dim hopes for a long-term ceasefire in Gaza
Injured Palestinians, including children, are taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital as Israeli attacks continue
Israeli soldiers walk through rubble during the ongoing ground invasion against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, November 8, 2023
He said Israel had also agreed to open a second corridor for the escape of civilians from the northern Gaza Strip – along the territory’s coastal road – joining the first corridor established along its main north-south highway.
On Thursday, Israeli military officials claimed their troops had toppled one of the Palestinian militants’ “strongholds” after a grueling 10-hour battle.
Hamas fighters armed with grenade launchers and assault rifles fired at Israeli soldiers supported by armored vehicles in the ruins of the besieged area to the north.
Broken palm trees, tattered street signs and twisted lampposts marked the remains of what was once northern Gaza’s main street as Israeli tanks and APCs rolled south to enter Gaza City.
Meanwhile, an IDF unit claimed it discovered a Hamas weapons factory next to a children’s bedroom in the Sheikh Radwan district.
Images shared on the IDF’s official social media accounts showed heavily armed Israeli troops standing in a room with several small beds and pink wallpaper covered in debris. As soldiers combed the area, drone components and missiles were seen in an adjacent room.
Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a tunnel allegedly used by militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas
Lt. Col. Ido stands in a damaged bedroom that he claims is above a workshop used to produce weapons in a residential building during the ongoing ground offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip
Today, Israeli flags can be seen in the northern Gaza Strip, where despite the destruction there is little sign of human presence and hundreds of thousands of residents have fled the dire humanitarian situation.
The utter devastation is the result of more than a month of war sparked by the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, when gunmen from the Islamist group poured across the Gaza border into Israel, killing 1,400 people and, according to Israeli officials About 240 hostages were taken in the worst attack in the country’s history.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and responded with an air strike and a ground offensive that killed more than 10,500 people, including many children, in the last 32 days of fighting in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry.
The Israeli military said its troops secured a Hamas “military stronghold” in the western Jabalia area last day, adding that troops had “completed securing the site after 10 hours of fighting.”