Israel has “more or less” agreed to a ceasefire deal in Gaza and is now putting the ball “in the hands of Hamas,” a U.S. official said on Saturday, as the United States began airdropping humanitarian aid into Palestinian territory.
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“There is a deal on the table. The Israelis more or less accepted it. And a six-week ceasefire could begin in Gaza today if Hamas agrees to release a clearly defined category of vulnerable hostages,” the U.S. official said.
He said talks would “continue” for now to seal an agreement before the start of Ramadan, the holy month of Muslim fasting, in a week.
“There has been significant progress in recent weeks, but as always there is no agreement until everything is decided,” added this senior official, who requested anonymity.
“The Israelis have fundamentally accepted the elements of the agreement,” he emphasized.
He made it clear that the six-week ceasefire was designed as a “first phase” with the aim of achieving “something more permanent”, in particular to be able to massively increase humanitarian aid.
According to the US military, the US airdropped aid supplies into Gaza for the first time on Saturday.
Humanitarian aid
On the same day, the UN Security Council expressed “grave concern” about food insecurity in Gaza and called for the unhindered delivery of “large-scale” humanitarian assistance.
Its members “call on all parties to refrain from denying the civilian population in the Gaza Strip essential services and humanitarian assistance that are essential for their survival,” the statement said.
The nearly five-month war in the Gaza Strip, bombed and besieged by the Israeli army, has created a serious humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, which the United Nations says is at risk of famine.
The American airdrops come two days after an aid distribution operation turned tragic.
The health ministry of Gaza's ruling Hamas accuses the Israeli army of killing 115 people by firing on a hungry crowd running towards aid trucks. The Israeli army acknowledged “limited shooting” and claimed that most of the victims died in a “rush.”
Three US military aircraft, in cooperation with Jordan, dropped packages containing these more than 38,000 meals into Gaza on Saturday afternoon local time, the US Military Middle East Command (Centcom) said.
The latter added that he was working on planning “possible subsequent relief operations.”
US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Washington would join “Jordan and other countries in airdropping food and other goods” into Gaza.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby then clarified that this was not a one-off operation.
“Further airdrops are being planned and carried out by the Pentagon,” he said, emphasizing their “extremely difficult” nature due to Gaza’s population density.
Joe Biden also mentioned on Friday “the possibility of a maritime corridor to transport large amounts of aid.”
But these two options – airdrops and sea deliveries – “cannot replace the necessary importation of aid through as many land routes as possible,” a senior American official warned on Saturday.
Until now, the United States, Israel's main backer, had not carried out such airdrops because it considered their effectiveness to be limited.
But for weeks Washington has been complaining to Israel about the inadequate humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
In the midst of the election campaign in the United States, President Joe Biden, a candidate for a second term, is coming under pressure from the left wing of his party and the Muslim community of Arab origin over his support for Israel.
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Washington, chanting slogans such as “Free Palestine!” in front of the Israeli embassy, before parading to the Israeli ambassador's residence with a giant Palestinian flag.
Some held signs in memory of the American soldier who died last weekend after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in the United States, chanting “Liberate Palestine!”