2024-04-29 01:54:11
delivery time2024-04-29 10:54
“Three-quarters of negotiations were in favor of a ceasefire”… Biden reaffirms concerns over Rafa ground battle
Are ceasefire negotiations gaining momentum? Observation of supporting fire ahead of Blinken’s visit to Israel
Biden and Netanyahu meeting in October last year
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(Washington, Seoul = Yonhap News) Correspondent Cho Joon-hyung and reporter Lim Ji-woo = As the war between Israel and Hamas stands at a crossroads between ceasefire and escalation, leaders of United States and Israel held a telephone consultation on the 28th (US Eastern Time) to negotiate a ceasefire and the ground battle in Rafah. We exchanged our opinions on this subject.
The White House said that in a phone call between the two leaders that day, President Joe Biden reaffirmed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his “clear position” on Israel’s planned attack on Rafah, the city further south in the Gaza Strip.
The United States has raised concerns regarding the risk of significant losses if Israel launches a full-scale ground war, as more than a million Gaza refugees stay in Rafah, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip .
According to a Biden administration official, regarding three-quarters of the phone call, which lasted regarding an hour, concerned ceasefire discussions and hostage negotiations, the US daily New York reported Times (NYT).
The official said the leaders of the two countries agreed that day in a telephone call that the success of the ceasefire negotiations depended on Hamas accepting the most recently presented negotiation plan and that Hamas was responsible for the progress of the negotiations.
Previously, US officials had claimed that Israel had accepted the truce proposed by mediators, including the United States, and that Hamas was responsible for the impasse in the negotiations.
The phone call between the two leaders came ahead of US Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s visit to the Middle East to discuss a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Secretary Blinken, along with foreign ministers from Western countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and France, and Arab countries such as Egypt and Qatar, are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia on the 29th to discuss the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The New York Times reported that President Biden’s phone call that day was intended to pave the way for discussions ahead of Secretary Blinken’s visit to the Middle East.
Secretary Blinken also plans to visit Jordan and Israel at a later date.
An Israeli delegation is also expected to be sent to Egypt soon to discuss the negotiation plan, and a senior Hamas official also revealed to the Associated Press that a Hamas delegation was expected to visit Cairo, Egypt, raising questions regarding the question of whether the long-stalled ceasefire negotiations between the two sides can be concluded.
As pro-Palestinian protests spread like wildfire across American college campuses, President Biden appears to have dissuaded Prime Minister Netanyahu from engaging in ground fighting in Rafah and has once once more urged him to agree to a temporary ceasefire with Hamas during this phone call.
It is not immediately clear what position Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed in this regard, but he is understood to have emphasized that if an agreement is not reached in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, he will not have no choice but to launch a ground war in Rafah to eliminate the remnants of Hamas.
That day, the two leaders also discussed the hostage video released by Hamas last week, and President Biden also stressed the importance of extending humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, reported the White House.
The hostage video released by Hamas also included two American hostages.
Separately, regarding the recent conflict between Israel and Iran, the White House said that President Biden reaffirmed to Prime Minister Netanyahu “his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security following its successful defense once morest attacks from unprecedented missiles and drones from Iran earlier this month.
jhcho@yna.co.kr
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