President Biden Hopes That The Hamas-Israel Armistice Will Be Realized In The Next Few Days

Israeli military land operations in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden hopes that the ceasefire of the Hamas-Israeli conflict will be realized in the next few days, when the warring parties give a positive signal about the deal in negotiations in Qatar.

The presence of both sides in the so-called close-range negotiations met with mediators separately but in the same city, suggesting negotiations had gone further than ever since a major push in early February, when Israel rejected Hamas' offer to make a ceasefire for four and a half months.

President Biden said he hoped the ceasefire would begin in a few days.

"I hope it's the start of the weekend, I mean the weekend," he said when asked when the ceasefire would begin.

"My national security adviser told me, we are close (to an agreement). We are close. We are not finished yet. My hope is that next Monday we will hold a ceasefire," President Biden told reporters during a visit to New York.

Meanwhile, a US official said their negotiators had gone to great lengths to reach an agreement on the suspension of a hostage-taking in early Ramadan which is expected to fall on March 10, with top US officials working on the matter last week. The optimism appears to have grown from a meeting between Israel and Qatar, the official said.

However, in public, Israel and Hamas continue to take a far-reaching stance on the possibility of a ceasefire, while blaming each other for the delay.

After meeting with Emir Qatari Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh said his group had accepted attempts to end the war, accusing Israel of stalling while Gazans were killed in the siege.

"We will not allow the enemy to use negotiations as a cover for this crime," said Haniyeh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ready to reach an agreement, and it was up to Hamas to drop the demands he described as from other planets.

"Of course, we want this deal if we can make it happen. It depends on Hamas. Now their decision really depends on it. They have to realize the reality," Trump told Fox News.

Separately, Sheikh Al Thani's Office said he and the Hamas leader had discussed Qatar's efforts to broker "an immediate and permanent ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip."

Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said any ceasefire agreement required an "termination of aggression, occupation withdrawal, repatriation of refugees, entry of aid, shelter equipment and rebuilding."

Israel is under pressure from the United States, its traditional ally, to immediately agree to a ceasefire, to prevent the threat of an attack on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that is a haven for more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population, which is feared Washington could be a bloodshed..

The momentum behind the negotiations appears to have grown since Friday, when Israeli officials discussed the terms of the deal to release hostages in Paris with delegates from the United States, Egypt and Qatar, but not Hamas.