Allies at loggerheads over Gaza truce deal

WASHINGTON/GAZA — The administration of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were sharply at odds on Thursday over prospects of reaching a deal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, with Netanyahu saying it was "exactly inaccurate" that a breakthrough was close.

"There's not a deal in the making," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox and Friends. His public skepticism comes as US officials said they were working on a revised proposal to address remaining disputes between Israeli and Hamas leaders after the weekend discovery of six dead hostages added urgency to the talks.

US National Security spokesman John Kirby reiterated on Thursday that only disagreements on "implementing details" of a cease-fire proposal need to be hammered out.

"I've heard what the prime minister said. I'm not going to get into a back and forth with him in a public setting," Kirby told reporters. "We still believe, though this is incredibly difficult … if there's compromise, if there's leadership, we can still get there."

Biden's team, an administration two months before the election, projected optimism this summer as it works with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a truce in the 11-month conflict in Gaza. The deal would release more of the hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct 7 attack on Israel, including US citizens, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners — one of the big sticking points.

"I'm optimistic. It's far from over. Just a couple more issues. I think we've got a shot," Biden told reporters last Friday.

Even before that, Netanyahu was digging in his heels, adding conditions that make sealing any agreement before the US elections difficult. His far-right government publicly prioritized for the first time in July — months into the talks — a demand for Israeli forces to keep their presence in a buffer zone along Gaza's border with Egypt. Netanyahu says it's needed to prevent Hamas from smuggling arms into the Palestinian territory.

Hostage families have accused Netanyahu of blocking a deal and potentially sacrificing their loved ones to hold the border strip, called the Philadelphi Corridor. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets, calling for a deal and saying time is running out to bring home the hostages alive.

Netanyahu has brushed off criticism that his management of the conflict and cease-fire negotiations have been politically motivated and said he believes only heavy pressure on Hamas will force it into concessions.

Meanwhile, Hamas called on the US on Thursday to "exert real pressure" on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Strong objections

The US, Egypt and other Arab nations have raised objections to a lasting Israeli presence in the corridor. Hamas says the Israeli position is in breach of the bridging proposal's call for Israel to leave densely populated areas of Gaza.

Hamas's Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya called on the US to "exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government" and "abandon their blind bias" toward Israel.

Mediators hope a cease-fire would calm tensions that threaten a wider regional conflict, including fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has left the territory in ruins, with the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure blamed for the spread of disease.

The humanitarian crisis has led to Gaza's first polio case in 25 years, prompting a massive vaccination effort launched on Sunday with localized "humanitarian pauses" in fighting.

Nearly 200,000 children in central Gaza have received a first dose, the World Health Organization said, and a second stage got underway on Thursday in the south, before medics move north.

The second phase of administering polio vaccinations to children under 10 years of age got underway in Gaza's southern zone, UN humanitarians said on Thursday.

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic and we still do not have all the conditions necessary to support people near the scale that they actually need," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Agencies - Xinhua