Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed on a framework for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden has claimed.
“Six weeks ago I laid out a comprehensive framework for how to achieve a ceasefire and bring the hostages home. There is still work to do and these are complex issues, but that framework is now agreed to by both Israel and Hamas. My team is making progress and I’m determined to get this done,” Biden wrote on the X social media platform.
Hamas had dismissed media reports that claim a breakthrough is imminent in negotiations with Israel over a ceasefire in the besieged enclave, with sources telling Middle East Eye that several obstacles remained and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was obstructing the process as mediators again push for a deal.
Sources in the Palestinian movement have rubbished reports that claimed a framework for the ceasefire had been agreed upon by the parties and that they were now negotiating details of how it would be implemented.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that there was “nothing new” to report and there was no impending “breakthrough” in negotiations, despite CIA director Bill Burns meeting senior Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Doha.
Burns travelled to Qatar earlier this week in the hope of closing remaining gaps in the framework of the ceasefire deal and moving to detailed negotiations.
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in indirect talks since January to reach an agreement that ends the war on Gaza and swaps prisoners.
Israel’s war on Gaza, now nearing its tenth month, has destroyed large swaths of the besieged territory.
More than 38,000 people have been killed, the great majority of them women and children. Thousands more are missing or presumed to be dead under the rubble.
