UPDATE - Hamas statements on cease-fire proposal 'less than encouraging': White House

ADDS MORE STATEMENT FROM SULLIVAN

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Hamas's public statements on a proposal that would see a temporary cease-fire halt hostilities brought to the besieged Gaza Strip have been "less than encouraging," the White House said Tuesday.

"We've seen the public statements from Hamas that have been, shall we say, less than encouraging, but I spoke with the Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed this morning. He does not yet have an answer from Hamas," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House.

"I pressed him to try to secure an answer from them as soon as possible. And when we have more to report on that front, we will report it to you," he added.

Sullivan said that the US believes that a ground invasion of Rafah, where “1.3 or more million people” are sheltering, is “not the best way forward,” adding: “There are better ways to go after Hamas in Rafah. We presented those ways to our Israeli counterparts.”

“I anticipate we’ll have another opportunity at senior levels to engage them on Rafah and that conversation will stay ongoing, and then we will make determinations about how we proceed based on how those conversations unfold,” he added.

The ongoing negotiations to broker a temporary truce in exchange for the release of hostages still held by Hamas comes amid the Israeli prime minister's public determination to carry out a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The proposal was presented to Hamas after a round of talks concluded over the weekend.

Several countries, including the US, have urged Israel to abandon plans for a ground attack in Rafah. Some 1.5 million internally displaced Palestinians have sought refuge there on top of the 200,000 who lived in the city prior to the war.

US President Joe Biden warned Israel in the aftermath of last week's killing of seven international aid workers that future US support for the Israeli war hinges on Tel Aviv implementing major reforms, and emphasized during his telephone call with Netanyahu that "an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians" in Gaza.

Sullivan said he has not yet seen "credible and executable plan to move people that has any level of detail about how you not only house, feed and provide medicine for those innocent civilians, but also how you deal with things like sanitation, water and other basic services."

"We have not seen that yet," he added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive across since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people. About 250 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages with nearly 130 remaining in captivity.

More than 33,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and nearly 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of daily necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of the north, on the verge of starvation.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.