Israel has “more or less” agreed to a cease-fire deal in Gaza, now putting the ball “in Hamas’s court,” a US official said Saturday, as the United States began airdropping humanitarian aid over the Palestinian territory.
“There is a deal on the table. The Israelis more or less accepted it. And a six-week ceasefire in Gaza could begin today if Hamas agrees to release a well-defined series of vulnerable hostages,” the US official said.
Progress through lack of understanding
For now, he said, “discussions were ongoing” to seal the deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a week away.
“There has been significant progress in recent weeks, but as usual, there is no agreement until everything is decided,” added this senior official, who requested anonymity.
He clarified that the six-week ceasefire was designed as a “first phase” with the aim of achieving “something more permanent”, specifically to be able to scale up humanitarian aid.
Humanitarian aid and pressure on Hamas
The United States carried out aid airdrops to Gaza for the first time on Saturday, delivering more than 38,000 meals, the US military said.
The American airdrops come two days after an aid delivery turned into a disaster. The Health Ministry of Hamas, which is in power in Gaza, has accused the Israeli army of killing 115 people by firing on hungry crowds rushing towards an aid truck. The Israeli army admitted to “limited shooting” and claimed that most of the victims had died in “a stampede”.
Three US military aircraft dropped packages containing more than 38,000 meals Saturday afternoon local time in Gaza, with support from Jordan, the US Middle East Command (CENTCOM) said.
US President Joe Biden announced on Friday that Washington would immediately join “airdrops of food and other goods to Jordan and other countries” over Gaza.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later clarified that it would not be a unique operation.
“Other drops will be planned and executed” by the Pentagon, he said, stressing their “extremely difficult” nature because of the population density in Gaza.
Joe Biden also mentioned “the potential of a maritime corridor to transport large amounts of aid” on Friday.
A presidential election is in sight
Until now, the United States, Israel’s main supporter, had not conducted such airdrops, believing their effectiveness to be limited.
But Washington has been complaining to Israel for weeks about insufficient humanitarian aid to civilians 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 also under pressure from the left wing of his party and the Muslim community and Arab roots to support Israel.
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