The White House said Wednesday that Israel has agreed to implement four-hour daily humanitarian breaks in its attacks on the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in northern Gaza.
Israel will take a four-hour break every day starting this Wednesday in certain areas of the northern Gaza Strip, which will be announced three hours in advance, the spokesperson for the United States National Security Council revealed.
John Kirby said Israel has also agreed to open a second corridor for civilians to flee the northern Gaza Strip – along the territory’s coastal highway – in addition to the first corridor along the main north-south highway.
US President Joe Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose daily pauses during a call on Monday, which also called for a “pause of more than three days” to allow negotiations on the release of hostages held by Hamas. the possibility of a general ceasefire.
Kirby told reporters that the pauses could be helpful in recovering all 239 hostages and their families, including the fewer than 10 Americans Washington knows are in captivity.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel last week that it risked destroying any possibility of peace unless it acted quickly to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip for Palestinian civilians as it intensifies its war against Hamas .
In a blunt call for Israel to halt military operations in the area to allow for immediate and expanded relief, Blinken said the situation would further radicalize Palestinians and end prospects for any resumption of the peace talks would lead to an end to the conflict.
The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the raid of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, through bombings and ground incursions in the Gaza Strip, and imposed a total siege to the Gaza Strip. the area where the supply of water, fuel and electricity has been interrupted.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries in both areas, among military personnel and civilians.
Source: DN
