Washington:

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that no party in the Middle East should undermine efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that he claimed was now in sight, but he warned that it was “far from over.”

KEY QUOTES

“No one in the region should take actions to undermine this process,” Biden wrote on social media.

He later told reporters he was optimistic about prospects for a ceasefire.

“As of an hour ago, it’s still in play. I’m optimistic. It’s far from over,” he said on Friday night. “There’s a couple more issues. I think we’ve got a shot,” he added, without elaborating.

Asked when a ceasefire deal would start if a deal is reached, Biden said: “That remains to be seen.”

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Israel has insisted that peace will only be possible if Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is destroyed, while Hamas has said it will only accept a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary one.

Ceasefire talks in Doha paused on Friday with negotiators to meet again next week. In a joint statement, the US, Qatar and Egypt said Washington presented a new proposal. Washington, Israel’s most important ally, says a ceasefire will reduce the rising threat of the widening of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Biden originally had laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31, but mediators have run into repeated obstacles.

CONTEXT

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and has displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

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