November 7, 2023
2 mins read

Biden, Netanyahu Discuss ‘Tactical Pauses’ in Gaza War

White House representative John Kirby emphasised ongoing communication between the U.S. and Israeli governments concerning potential short-term ceasefires….reports Asian Lite News

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in discussions regarding the possibility of “tactical pauses” in the Gaza conflict for humanitarian reasons and the potential release of hostages during their talks on Monday.

White House representative John Kirby emphasised ongoing communication between the U.S. and Israeli governments concerning potential short-term ceasefires. Both leaders agreed to further dialogue in the upcoming days. “We consider ourselves at the beginning of this conversation, not at the end of it,” Kirby told reporters.

However, when asked about temporary “humanitarian” pauses in the fighting as suggested by President Biden and top administration officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday: “Well, there’ll be no ceasefire, general ceasefire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages. As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there.

” We’ve had them before, I suppose, will check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave. But I don’t think there’s going to be a general ceasefire.”

According to the Israeli authorities, the Hamas is holding 240 people as hotages in Gaza, including Israelis and foreign nationals.

Media reports have indicated that about 30 of the them are children.

So far, the militant group released four civilian hostages, while afemale Israeli soldier was rescued by the country’s forces.

Hamas has however, claimed that 57 of the hostages were killed in the the Israeli airstrikes. 

Netanyahu went on to say that a ceasefire “will hamper the war effort”.

“It’ll hamper our effort to get our hostages out because the only thing that works on these criminals in Hamas is the military pressure that we’re exerting.”

When he was asked about a probable halt in the fighting if Hamas agreed to release the hostages, the Israeli leader told ABC News: “There will be a ceasefire for that purpose.”

When Netanyahu was asked who will govern the enclave once and when the raging fighting ends, he indicated that he believed Israel will have a role to play for an “indefinite period”.

“Those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas… It certainly is not — I think Israel will, for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it.

“When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he told ABC News.

Netanyahu also addressed the role of Iran and Hezbollah in the conflict, cautioning them from getting more involved. 

“I think they’ve understood that if they enter the war in a significant way, the response will be very, very powerful and I hope they don’t make that mistake.”

As of Tuesday morning, the war in Gaza have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians in the besieged enclave, including 4,008 children and 2,550 women.

ALSO READ: Harris Outperforms Biden in Swing State Polls

Previous Story

Blinken’s West Asia Tour Concludes with Mixed Results

Next Story

Climate activists target ‘Rokeby Venus’ painting

Latest from -Top News

IMF hails India’s economic reforms

The IMF on Tuesday raised India’s growth projection to 6.6 per cent, an upward swing of 0.2 percentage points…reports Asian Lite News IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday praised India for

Trump plans new squeeze on Russia

US President Donald Trump plans to tighten pressure on Moscow by halting global energy imports from Russia….reports Asian Lite News Since imposing a large sum of “reciprocal” trade tariff, Trump has been

India, Lanka deepen trade, education ties

The leaders discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between India and Sri Lanka in education and capacity building….reports Asian Lite News External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini

Yunus regime faces military heat

Army Chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, is facing immense pressure from his officers, and this led him to cancel his visits to India and Saudi Arabia….reports Asian Lite News A major showdown is looming

India, Uganda vow deeper ties

Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh met Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday to discuss strengthening India–Uganda ties….reports Asian Lite News Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh met
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Did Western Sanctions Miss Their Mark?

The popular mantra of Russian politicians, experts and media loyal

China will be high on agenda at Quad Summit

When asked to what extent China will be a focus