PALESTINIAN Territories – International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after US President Joe Biden called on the militant group to agree to a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadan.
Envoys have discussed plans to halt the fighting that has raged since Hamas’s October 7 attack before the Muslim fasting month starts on Sunday or Monday, depending on the sighting of the full moon.
As famine threatens the besieged Gaza Strip, US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France on Tuesday.
In Melbourne, Australia, Southeast Asian and Australian leaders called for a quick and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, describing the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory as “dire.”
“We urge for an immediate and durable humanitarian ceasefire,” said the leaders of 11 nations — including Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia — after days of diplomatic wrangling over the text.
The deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip was a topic of fierce debate as leaders from the 10-nation ASEAN bloc convened in Melbourne for a three-day summit with their Australian counterparts.
With the Muslim holy month of Ramadan around the corner, the United States and a growing list of nations have been stepping up efforts to secure some kind of pause in fighting.
“We condemn attacks against all civilians and civilian infrastructure, leading to further deterioration of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza including restricted access to food, water, and other basic needs,” ASEAN and Australia said.
“We call for rapid, safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to all those in need, including through increased capacity at border crossings, including by sea.”
The World Health Organization has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals, and US Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.”
Envoys from Hamas and the United States have been meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a greater flow of aid to Gaza.
Egypt’s Al-Qahera News, which is close to the country’s intelligence services, said the talks would continue Wednesday.
Biden warned Hamas to quickly agree to a truce and hostage release deal after his top diplomat Antony Blinken urged the group to accept an “immediate ceasefire”.
“It’s in the hands of Hamas right now,” the US president told reporters from Maryland.
“There’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan — if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”
He did not elaborate but the United States urged Israel last week to allow Muslims to pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a frequent flashpoint during Ramadan.
The Israeli government said Tuesday it would allow Muslim worshippers access to the mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem “in similar numbers to those in previous years”.
In washington, DC, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump expressed his support for Israel’s war in Gaza Tuesday, in his most explicit comments yet on the fighting, as international pressure grows on the United States to rein in its ally.
“Yes,” Trump responded, when asked during an interview on Fox News if he was “in Israel’s camp.”
The interviewer then asked if the former president was “on board” with the way Israel was executing its offensive in Gaza.
“You’ve got to finish the problem,” Trump responded.
President Joe Biden, whom Trump is set to challenge for the White House in November, has come under increasing fire both internationally and from his own Democratic base over his backing for Israel as the death toll in Gaza soars and the specter of famine looms.
The fighting began with an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed 30,534 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
US protest movements have urged voters to punish Biden at the polls over his support for Israel. More than 100,000 people in Michigan voted “uncommitted” rather than cast their ballot for him in the US swing state’s Democratic primary last week.
As conditions deteriorate, Israel is facing an increasingly sharp rebuke from its top ally the United States.
Vice President Kamala Harris expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza” during talks in Washington on Monday with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz.
The group also backed the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, despite Australia pausing the group’s funding over allegations some of its staff were members of armed militant Islamist groups.
Singapore had baulked at a suggestion the statement condemn “the use of starvation” in the Gaza Strip, language that would have infuriated Israel.
Diplomats also argued over whether the statement should call for a total ceasefire — or a more temporary “humanitarian” pause.
Southeast Asia is home to about 40 percent of the world’s Muslim population, and ASEAN heavyweights Indonesia and Malaysia are staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause.
But other influential ASEAN nations such as Singapore have closer ties with Israel — and are less eager to stoke controversy.
