The White House on Tuesday urged Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) fighters in Gaza to release women, elderly and wounded hostages and accept a temporary ceasefire in the fighting with Israel in order to ensure a more sustainable agreement.
“There is now a six-week ceasefire on the table, and it may be possible to extend it if Hamas simply releases the women, the wounded, and the elderly,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Israel accepted the terms of a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of some hostages held by Hamas since its attack on October 7, which Israel said killed about 1,200 people.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israeli forces killed more than 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization, says it will only accept an agreement based on a permanent ceasefire that ends the war and includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, refusing to approve another temporary truce.
Under the latest proposal, Israel will release 10 Palestinian prisoners for every hostage held by Hamas.
Hamas took at least 200 hostages on October 7, and during a week-long truce in late November, the movement released more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of about 240 Palestinian prisoners.
“We are determined to try to reach a ceasefire for at least six weeks with the return of the hostages (to Israel) and then try to build on that into something more sustainable, but I can’t make any predictions about where that will lead,” Sullivan said.
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