No deal reached yet between Israel and Hamas, White House says
Israel and Hamas have not reached a deal yet on a temporary ceasefire, a White House spokesperson said.
“No deal yet but we continue to work hard to get a deal,” the White House’s National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The spokesperson added that the US continued to work to get a deal between the two sides, according to Reuters.
On Saturday, the Washington Post reported that a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel and Hamas had been reached for a five-day ceasefire in exchange for 50 or more hostages.
But a second US official also said no deal had been reached, Reuters reported.
Israeli defense forces (IDF) are currently carrying out ground operations in Gaza to destroy Hamas after the militant group’s rampage into Israel on 7 October in which its fighters killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.
Israel also said it is preparing to expand its offensive in the strip.
A senior aide to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Palestinian civilians to relocate away from southern Khan Younis, indicating that a ground offensive into the south is imminent.
IDF said it was fighting militants in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and on the outskirts of Jabaliya, the refugee camp which is home to one of two schools that were allegedly hit by airstrikes on Saturday.
The Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry says the death toll in the Gaza Strip has already increased to 12,300, including 5,000 children.
Meanwhile, the families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and thousands of supporters arrived after a five-day march in Jerusalem on Saturday.
The marchers sought to pressure Israel’s government to do everything they could to bring hostages back.
So far of the 240 hostages kidnapped from Israel into Gaza, only five have been released – four via international diplomacy involving Qatar and one rescued by Israeli troops.
Some of the marchers have expressed fear that the Israel military offensive endangers their loved ones but government leaders argue that only military pressure on Hamas can lead to some hostage releases.
A humanitarian assessment team that visited Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza reported seeing signs of shelling and gunfire in what was described as a “death zone” in a “desperate” situation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
People search buildings destroyed during airstrikes on November 18, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Heavy fighting rages in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel encircles the area, despite increasingly pressing calls for a ceasefire.
(Getty Images)
“Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and were told more than 80 people were buried there,” the WHO said in a statement.
The team which included public health experts, logistics officers, and security staff from various UN departments could reportedly spend only an hour inside the hospital due to security concerns.
Their visit, while coordinated with the Israeli military, still occurred with heavy fighting near the hospital.
“WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families,” the UN organisation said.
The hospital was not functioning as a medical facility, according to the team, due to a scarcity of clean water, fuel, medicine, and other essentials.
Palestinians search the rubble of a building for survivors follwoing Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 18 November 2023 amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
(AFP via Getty Images)
The WHO reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian assistance.
However, US president Joe Biden said that “a ceasefire is not peace”.
“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace,” the president wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post on Saturday.
“An outcome that leaves Hamas in control of Gaza would once more perpetuate its hate and deny Palestinian civilians the chance to build something better for themselves,” Mr Biden wrote.
Protesters march through the city during the national protest to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war on 18 November 2023 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Voices across the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza continue to grow as the IDF pushes deeper into Gaza warning people to move south and evacuation orders are issued for the al Shifa hospital.
(Getty Images)
A ceasefire he said would give Hamas the opportunity “to rebuild their stockpile of rockets, reposition fighters and restart the killing by attacking innocents again.”
“If Hamas cared at all for Palestinian lives, it would release all the hostages, give up arms, and surrender the leaders and those responsible” for the 7 October attacks, the US president said.
“My administration has called for respecting international humanitarian law, minimizing the loss of innocent lives and prioritizing the protection of civilians,” Mr Biden said, adding that the goal should not be “simply to stop the war for today” but to “end the war forever.”
“There must be no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, and no reduction in territory,” the US president said.
