Signs growing that long-awaited Gaza truce may be reached soon

Biden says a ceasefire may be in place as soon as Monday, but warns that it is not yet a done deal

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Signs are growing that a truce in the Gaza war may at long last be around the corner, with the US determined to pause the conflict before Ramadan and Hamas appearing to soften some of its conditions for a pause in the nearly five-month conflict.

US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel’s main backer, said late on Monday that Israel had agreed not to engage in military activities in the Palestinian enclave during Ramadan, which begins around March 10.

This will “give us time to get all the hostages out”, Mr Biden said in an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

“My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire … We’re close, we’re not done yet”.

The nearing truce comes at a time when mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are engaging in the biggest diplomatic push in weeks for a cessation of hostilities and a swap of poisoners and hostages.

The mediators are meeting this week in Qatar to work out details and mechanisms to enact draft proposals they hammered out in Paris last week.

The negotiations were expected to move to Cairo late this week or early next week, according to sources.

Under discussion is naming a non-partisan Palestinian government made up of technocrats to run both Gaza and the occupied West Bank when the fighting stops.

The proposed administration is expected to remain in place until legislative and presidential elections are held.

A truce might become possible if Hamas is able to negotiate some of the conditions it has remained firm on, yielding to pressure by Egypt and Qatar, as well as the tragically high death toll among civilians – about 30,000 since the war began in October – and an unprecedented level of destruction across the densely populated territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, faces the risk of inflicting lasting damage on his country’s strategic relations with the US if he does not respond favourably to Washington’s growing calls for the war to stop, albeit temporarily, to allow for the hostages to be freed and much-needed humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

“The United States’ mind is made up that this war must end and that’s exactly what will make it stop,” said one of the sources.

Mr Netanyahu’s government is also under mounting pressure from the families of the hostages to strike a deal for their release, but he has publicly said that he would not do that at any price.

Egypt’s keen interest in pushing for an end to the war is to head off an influx of Palestinians into its Sinai Peninsula if Israel invades Rafah on its eastern border.

Cairo also hopes that a halt to the fighting will persuade Iranian-backed Houthi forces to stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping, which have badly hurt Egypt’s vital revenue from the Suez Canal at a time of deep economic struggle.

The war has similarly hurt Egypt’s revenue from another key source, tourism.

The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage by the militant group.