The White House said Thursday that Israel has agreed to daily four-hour pauses in its offensive against Hamas militants to allow trapped Palestinian residents in Gaza to escape the fighting and possibly also to accelerate talks to free hundreds of hostages still held by the group.
The agreement would mark the first time the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally agreed to a pause in its retaliatory campaign into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a month after the Palestinian militant group staged a terror campaign that killed more than 1,400 people across southern Israel and captured nearly 240 Israeli and foreign hostages, including a handful of Americans.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House that the first daily humanitarian pause would be announced Thursday and that the Israelis had committed to announcing each four-hour window at least three hours in advance.
Informal halts in the fighting have occurred in recent days, but the new agreement — discussed in a call by President Biden with Mr. Netanyahu earlier this week — would be an official acknowledgment of the policy. An Israeli military spokesman denied that what was being proposed amounted to a shift in policy or a moderating of the Israeli military campaign to eradicate Hamas.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, said there had been no shift in Israeli tactics. ’There’s no cease-fire,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters, the Associated Press reported. ”‘These are tactical local pauses for humanitarian aid, which are limited in time and area.”
Mr. Kirby said that Israel also had agreed to open a second corridor for Palestinian civilians to flee the areas that are the current focus of its military campaign against Hamas, with a coastal road joining the territory’s main north-south highway, according to the AP report.
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“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.”
Both the U.S. and Israel have resisted growing international calls for a more extensive cease-fire as the toll of Palestinians killed since the events of Oct. 7 has reportedly climbed to more than 10,500, arguing it would only help Hamas, a group both governments consider a terrorist organization. The death toll provided by the Ministry of Health, run by Hamas in Gaza, hasn’t been independently verified.
Israeli forces have pounded the densely populated Gaza enclave with airstrikes and an expanding ground operation in a campaign to wipe out the Hamas stronghold.
Separately, the AP, citing Biden administration officials, reported that CIA Director William Burns had traveled to Doha, Qatar, Thursday 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. Mr. Burns reportedly met with Mossad chief David Barnea and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar is a U.S. ally but has also played host to the political arm of Hamas for years. Some top Hamas political leaders make their home in the Gulf country, and the oil-rich country has emerged as a key diplomatic crossroads in the region.
But the U.S. and Israel are also having to deal with a sharp shift in popular opinion in the region against Israel as the Gaza death tolls mount. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the Paris gathering that Israel is violating international law by exceeding what is necessary to ensure its self-defense.
“How many Palestinians must die for this war to stop?” Mr. Shoukry asked. “Is it enough to kill six children and four women every hour?”
— This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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