Senior US officials have concluded that a Gaza ceasefire deal will likely not be reached before President Biden’s term comes to an end on January 20, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
For months, Biden administration officials have claimed that a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas was in sight while at the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was constantly rejecting the idea of a permanent ceasefire.
The US officials speaking to the Journal blamed the lack of a deal on Hamas, claiming the main sticking point is over the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to Israeli hostages that will be released. But it has been widely acknowledged by Israeli officials and media outlets that Netanyahu has been sabotaging the chances of an agreement.
Members of the Israeli negotiating team said last month that Netanyahu’s insistence on maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor was “intended to blow up the negotiations.”
The US officials speaking to the Journal said another reason why a deal is not going to happen was the Israeli operation in Lebanon that blew up thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies, killing dozens, including at least two children. The US officials said the attack has made the chances of a major regional war much more likely.
“No deal is imminent,” one of the US officials said. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.” The report said a number of top officials in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department don’t think a deal will happen.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both claim they care about the huge number of civilians being slaughtered in Gaza and that they’re working on a ceasefire. But their administration continues to ship weapons to Israel, and there’s no sign they’ve even considered cutting off the flow of arms, which would force Israel to agree to a deal. A senior Israeli Air Force official recently acknowledged that without US support, Israel wouldn’t be able to sustain operations in Gaza for more than a few months.
In the meantime, the genocidal slaughter in Gaza continues. The latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry put the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since October 7 at 41,272. The figure is considered an undercount since it doesn’t account for the Palestinians missing and presumed dead under the rubble, which was previously estimated to be 10,000.
Earlier this week, Gaza’s Health Ministry released the names of 34,344 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces, including 11,355 children. Among the children were 710 infants who did not make it to their first birthday.
