5/17/2024–|Last updated: 5/17/202403:15 AM (Mecca time)
In a phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed the “indisputable necessity” to protect civilians and ensure the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid before any possible military operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
This comes at a time when the White House spoke, on Thursday, about efforts by US President Joe Biden to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of prisoners between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan mentioned this during his meeting on Wednesday with ambassadors of countries that have detainees in the Gaza Strip. He said that Biden is holding talks in particular with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
On Wednesday, Sullivan met with ambassadors and heads of missions from 17 countries that hold prisoners in Gaza, according to a statement issued by the White House on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by diplomats from the United States, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Sullivan confirmed to the ambassadors that Biden will engage with Netanyahu, the Emir of Qatar, and the Egyptian President in talks to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
The attendees discussed sending a collective call to Hamas for the immediate release of detainees in Gaza and ways to end the crisis, according to the same source.
With the mediation of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, the Palestinian factions in Gaza and Israel have been conducting faltering indirect negotiations for months, to reach an agreement to exchange prisoners and stop the war on Gaza that broke out on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli army continues its devastating war on Gaza, which has left tens of thousands martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, which necessitated the trial of Tel Aviv before the International Court of Justice on the grounds of committing genocide for the first time since its establishment in 1948.