Gaza Strip: International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after US President Joe Biden called on the group to agree a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadhan.
Envoys have discussed plans to halt the fighting that has raged since Hamas's October 7 attack before thefasting 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.
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 on Tuesday it would allow Muslim worshippers access to the mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem "in similar numbers to those in previous years".
Israeli negotiators have so far stayed away from the Cairo talks, with Israeli media reporting that they boycotted them after Hamas failed to provide a list of living hostages.
Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim said details on the captives had not been "mentioned in any documents or proposals circulated during the negotiation process".
"The Hamas movement has shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people," the Islamist group said in a statement. — AFP
"The movement will continue to negotiate through mediator brothers to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands and interests of our people."
However, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Beirut, warned the group would "not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely".
Israel has said it believes 130 of the 250 captives taken by Hamas fighters in their unprecedented October 7 attack remain in Gaza but that 31 are presumed dead.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met and agreed that "the release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks".
The first phase of a ceasefire would enable "a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm", a White House readout of the meeting said.
Israel is facing increasing criticism from its top ally the United States as conditions in Gaza deteriorate.
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