Israel has agreed to a daily pause in operations in the Gaza Strip to let civilians move to the south as part of an effort to convince the Hamas terrorist group to free hostages, the White House said on Nov. 9.
The Israelis have committed to announcing each four-hour window at least three hours in advance, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Israel, he said, also was opening a second corridor for civilians to flee areas that are the current focus of its military campaign against Hamas terrorists, with a coastal road joining the territory’s main north-south highway.
“The fighting continues, and there will be no ceasefire without the release of our captives,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told The Epoch Times via email. “Israel allows safe passage from the northern strip to the south, as 50,000 Gazans did just yesterday. Once again, we call on the civilian population in Gaza to evacuate to the south.”
President Joe Biden told reporters there was no chance of a ceasefire, but he and other U.S. officials have been pressuring Israeli counterparts to pause fighting to let civilians depart.
President Biden said he requested a pause longer than three days.
Mr. Kirby told reporters that pauses could be useful in the bid to get Hamas to release hostages, some of whom are Americans.
“If we can get all the hostages out, that’s a nice finite goal,” he said. “Humanitarian pauses can be useful in the transfer process.”
Israeli officials currently estimate that Hamas took 239 hostages, including children and the elderly, during its Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, when the group also killed 1,400 Israelis. U.S. officials say they believe that fewer than 10 Americans are among those held captive.
Asked about the hostages, President Biden said, “We’re not going to stop until we get them out.”
Indirect talks are taking place in Qatar—which also played a role in freeing four hostages by Hamas last month—about a larger release of hostages. CIA Director William Burns was in Doha to discuss efforts to win the release of hostages in Gaza with the Qatari prime minister and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to a U.S. official.
Qatar is a frequent intermediary in international dealings with Hamas, and some top Hamas political leaders make their home in the Gulf country. The U.S. official stressed that Mr. Burns isn’t playing a lead role in the negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the G7 summit in Japan this week that the United States supports Israel’s response to Hamas, but he added, “It is clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza.”
“We know what we don’t want to see in Gaza post-conflict, we don’t want to see Hamas in control, and we don’t want to see a re-occupation by Israel,” Mr. Kirby told CNN.
Israel occupied Gaza until 2005. Hamas took over two years later.
Mr. Netanyahu said recently that no ceasefire is possible until all hostages taken by Hamas terrorists are released, but he said that there could be “tactical little pauses.”
“We'll check the circumstances, in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods, to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave,” he told ABC News.
Mr. Blinken and other foreign ministers of G7 nations said in a joint statement that there needs to be “urgent action to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel, and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” the group said. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages.”
Humanitarian corridors are agreements between parties locked in conflict that let people safely travel for a limited period of time in a specific area, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The agreements date back decades and have been repeatedly used across a number of conflicts.
The United Nations said on Nov. 8 that the pace of Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza, where the fighting is occurring, had quickened, with 15,000 people fleeing on Nov. 7, compared with 5,000 on Nov. 6 and 2,000 on Nov. 5.
Mr. Netanyahu also told ABC News that Israel would likely have to occupy Gaza for some time.
“I think Israel will for an indefinite period have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.”
