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US President Joe Biden urged Hamas on Tuesday to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, while the Palestinian militant group cautioned that negotiations for a truce and hostage release cannot continue indefinitely.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on Hamas to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal by the month of Ramadan, while the Palestinian militant group warned talks for a truce and hostage release cannot go on "indefinitely".
As famine threatens Gazans, US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the besieged territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France.
In Cairo, US and Hamas envoys were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in protracted negotiations to end the fighting and free hostages before Ramadan starts on March 10 or 11.
Egypt's Al-Qahera News, which is close to the country's intelligence services, said the talks were "ongoing" and would continue for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday.
The parties in Egypt -- so far excluding Israel -- have discussed a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and increased aid into Gaza.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Beirut, said the Islamist group would "not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely".
Biden warned Hamas to agree to a Gaza ceasefire by Ramadan, after his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, urged it to accept an "immediate ceasefire".
"It's in the hands of Hamas right now," the US president told reporters.
The United States last week urged Israel to allow Muslims to worship at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan. The Israeli government said later that it would allow Muslim worshipers to access Al-Aqsa during Ramadan "in similar numbers to those in previous years".
As conditions in Gaza deteriorate, Israel has also faced increasingly sharp rebukes from Washington.
Vice President Kamala Harris had expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza" during talks on Monday with war cabinet member Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
American cargo planes airdropped more than 36,000 meals into Gaza Tuesday in a joint operation with Jordan, which said French and Egyptian planes also took part.
The United Nations has warned famine is "almost inevitable" in the Palestinian territory.
Israeli media reported, meanwhile, that the country's negotiating team had so far boycotted the Cairo talks after Hamas had failed to provide it with a list of the living hostages.
Israel has said it believes 130 of the original 250 captives remain in Gaza, but that 31 have been killed.
Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim told AFP on Monday that the group did not know "who among them are alive or dead, killed because of strikes or hunger", and that the captives were being held by "numerous groups in multiple places".
He said that, in order for all of them to be located, "a ceasefire is necessary".
with AFP
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on Hamas to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal by the month of Ramadan, while the Palestinian militant group warned talks for a truce and hostage release cannot go on "indefinitely".
As famine threatens Gazans, US and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the besieged territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France.
In Cairo, US and Hamas envoys were meeting Egyptian and Qatari mediators in protracted negotiations to end the fighting and free hostages before Ramadan starts on March 10 or 11.
Egypt's Al-Qahera News, which is close to the country's intelligence services, said the talks were "ongoing" and would continue for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday.
The parties in Egypt -- so far excluding Israel -- have discussed a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and increased aid into Gaza.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Beirut, said the Islamist group would "not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely".
Biden warned Hamas to agree to a Gaza ceasefire by Ramadan, after his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, urged it to accept an "immediate ceasefire".
"It's in the hands of Hamas right now," the US president told reporters.
The United States last week urged Israel to allow Muslims to worship at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan. The Israeli government said later that it would allow Muslim worshipers to access Al-Aqsa during Ramadan "in similar numbers to those in previous years".
As conditions in Gaza deteriorate, Israel has also faced increasingly sharp rebukes from Washington.
Vice President Kamala Harris had expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza" during talks on Monday with war cabinet member Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
American cargo planes airdropped more than 36,000 meals into Gaza Tuesday in a joint operation with Jordan, which said French and Egyptian planes also took part.
The United Nations has warned famine is "almost inevitable" in the Palestinian territory.
Israeli media reported, meanwhile, that the country's negotiating team had so far boycotted the Cairo talks after Hamas had failed to provide it with a list of the living hostages.
Israel has said it believes 130 of the original 250 captives remain in Gaza, but that 31 have been killed.
Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim told AFP on Monday that the group did not know "who among them are alive or dead, killed because of strikes or hunger", and that the captives were being held by "numerous groups in multiple places".
He said that, in order for all of them to be located, "a ceasefire is necessary".
with AFP
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