Israel Accedes to Brief, Regular Pauses in Fighting to Allow Gazans ‘Breathing Space’ to Flee South

The Biden administration says Israel has agreed to regular, short pauses in its campaign against Hamas in order to allow civilians to move from the war’s main staging area in northern Gaza to safer enclaves in the south of the strip.Speaking to reporters at the White House, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said the four-hour pauses will be announced three hours ahead of time and will begin immediately.“We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas throughout the pause and that this process is starting today,” Mr. Kirby said. The aim of the plan, he added, is to “give people breathing space for a few hours to move out of harm’s way.” The announcement comes after both President Biden and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, said there are no concrete proposals for a longer-lasting cease-fire on the table. “No. None at all,” Mr. Biden responded when asked whether there was a chance of one as he departed the White House for a campaign event in Illinois.His Israeli counterpart was even more direct when asked about it by NBC News in an interview at his office in Tel Aviv Thursday.“There is no real proposal that is viable from Hamas’ side on this issue,” Mr. Herzog said. “Whilst there are many, many people who are third parties who are sending optimistic messages to the news reels, I’m saying outright — according to my knowledge, up to now, there is no real substantial information that is showing any real offer of any process on the table.”Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also rejected any notion of a cease-fire without the release of all the hostages. Reports circulating in Israel Thursday said negotiators from Qatar, which backs Hamas, and Egypt for a more lasting cease-fire in exchange for a handful of hostages have so far not made much progress.In an appearance on ABC News Thursday morning, Mr. Kirby said any such cease-fire would merely “legitimize” Hamas and give it time to regroup. “A general cease-fire means everybody lays your arms down and you talk about the end of this conflict,” Mr. Kirby said on “Good Morning America.” “To do that right now would be a benefit to Hamas. It would give them time. It would also legitimize what they did on October 7th.”The United Nations said some 72,000 residents of Gaza have moved south in the four days since Israel started providing protection for the civilians fleeing Hamas fighters. Hamas had been blocking their escape for weeks to keep as many civilians in the north to be used as human shields against the Israeli assault.

Israel Accedes to Brief, Regular Pauses in Fighting to Allow Gazans ‘Breathing Space’ to Flee South

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