On November 9, U.S. President Joe Biden excluded any prospect of attaining a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“None. No possibility,” Biden told reporters outside the White House when questioned about the chances of a permanent end to hostilities.
Speaking to reporters subsequently as he was boarding Air Force One, Biden disclosed that he had been lobbying for a “pause” in fighting “for a lot more than three days.”
Thus far, Israel has only agreed to enforce daily humanitarian breaks, National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby divulged during a press conference the same day, lauding this development as “significant steps forward.”
“Israel will begin to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand,” Kirby told reporters. “We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause (and) that this process is starting today.”
Israel has repeatedly rebuffed the notion of any kind of ceasefire with Hamas while the group continues to hold hostages it took during its initial assault on Israeli civilians on October 7.
“There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared to aircraft crews at the Ramon Airbase over the weekend.
Behind closed doors, nonetheless, Israel has reportedly disavowed any hopes of a ceasefire even for the sake of obtaining the liberation of the aforementioned hostages. News outlet The Guardian reported that Netanyahu has already dismissed a deal for a five-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages. The original deal entailed liberating children, women, the elderly, and sick people, the newspaper wrote, quoting sources familiar with the matter.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu adopted a tough stance and responded to the proposed deal by launching a ground offensive instead.
In an interview via video link at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Hillary Clinton, former American first lady, senator, secretary of state, and Democratic presidential front-runner in the 2016 U.S. elections, said that a regime change was needed for both Israelis and Palestinians if they were to secure peace.
Addressing Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, Clinton said that “Hamas is not a partner for any kind of peace or two-state solution.” She added that peace might be attained by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and whoever assumes power in Gaza after Hamas’ war with Israel.
When questioned about Netanyahu’s potential to negotiate a two-state solution, Clinton replied, “I don’t think there is any evidence of that. I think the Israeli people will have to decide about his leadership.”
The former presidential candidate gave her views on the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that it would “freeze the situation in Hamas’ favor” and is therefore unlikely to be accepted by Israel.
However, Netanyahu might accept “humanitarian pauses” for aid to reach the civilians in Gaza and for Hamas to free the hostages taken in the October 7 attacks, she elaborated.
Moreover, Clinton admitted that it will be “challenging” for Biden to get Congress to authorize a funding package for both Israel and Ukraine, but that such an outcome was possible with “tough negotiations.”
The Democrat-majority Senate has blocked the Republican-majority House bill that funded only Israel, insisting on the White House proposal combining the two, along with funding for Taiwan and immigration, and amounting to $106 billion.
Clinton spoke for about half an hour to an audience that the Straits Times characterized as “global corporate and government leaders” gathered at the Capella Singapore hotel for the yearly event.
On November 8, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the number of Gaza Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Hamas probably exceeded the 10,000 reported by the local health ministry.
“In this period of conflict and conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” Leaf said, as cited by The Hill. “We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited.”
“We take in sourcing from a variety of folks who are on the ground,” she continued. “I can’t stipulate to one figure or another, it’s very possible they’re even higher than is being reported.”
On November 8, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported the overall death toll from Israeli attacks at 10,569 — including 4,324 children — with 26,475 people injured and at least 2,550 missing.
Leaf’s remarks appear to contradict a statement by Biden made last month that indicated that the U.S. leader had “no confidence” in the Palestinian numbers. NSC spokesman Kirby told reporters that the Gaza Health Ministry is “just a front for Hamas.”
“We can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called ‘Ministry of Health,’ at face value,” Kirby said at the White House press briefing on October 26.
Although the United States has supposedly asked Israel to avoid killing civilians, a New York Times article last week reported that Israeli officials “believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign,” likening the operations in Gaza to the firebombings of Germany and Japan in WWII.
Leaf described the civilian suffering in Gaza as “emotionally wrenching” but said that stopping the Israeli military operation would be an erroneous move.
“To call a cease-fire right now that might or might not be honored by Hamas, would be to leave Hamas in control of some 240 hostages, including babies and children, and would also leave fairly well intact … much of the military infrastructure and warfighting capacity and terrorism capacity of Hamas…,” she said.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the October 7 brutal attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group, which killed an estimated 1,400 Israeli citizens, while over 200 were taken hostage.
