Biden discussing plan for 6-week pause in fighting in Gaza, with aim for broader ceasefire

US President Joe Biden announced a proposal and ongoing discussions for a six-week pause in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, saying the plan could lead to a long-term ceasefire.

Following talks between Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Monday, in which they discussed a variety of impending issues including Israel’s ground offensive in southern Gaza and the increasing humanitarian disaster amongst Palestinian civilians, Biden clarified that the US is working with allies in the region on a deal for a pause in the fighting in order to allow the freeing of hostages and the increase in the flow of humanitarian assistance.

That deal would reportedly start with a pause lasting at least six weeks, according to the president, “which we could then take the time to build something more enduring” in the form of a long-lasting ceasefire.

King Abdullah stressed the need for a broad ceasefire in Gaza, insisting that “We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting ceasefire now. This war must end.”

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The two leaders’ talks and efforts toward establishing a ceasefire come as Israel recently announced its plans to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, the area in southern Gaza where Israeli authorities had initially ordered Gazans to flee to in order to seek shelter from the occupation’s bombardment and invasion.

The direct and stated targeting of Rafah, allegedly to defeat remaining “Hamas battalions”, would leave many of the more than one million already displaced Palestinians in that area with nowhere else to flee, as Israeli authorities have already decimated – and continue to – all other areas in the besieged territory.

The humanitarian situation in Rafah is now so grave that even staunch Israel supporter, Biden, has become increasingly concerned with Israel’s conduct, leading him to be vocal in his demand that Tel Aviv refrain from conducting a ground offensive in Rafah without a definitive plan to protect Palestinian civilians.

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