President Joe Biden of the United States said there is a “real” chance that Israel’s war on Gaza could last longer than four days.
“I think the chances are real,” he told reporters on Friday. He wouldn’t say how long the war that began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel without warning might last, though.
Biden said, “As we move forward, I expect and hope that the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down and bring this to an end as quickly as we can.” He also said that he supported Israel again.
That “eliminating” Hamas is still a “legitimate” goal for Israel, he said.
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He only said that he has “encouraged” Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, to try to keep civilian deaths to a minimum.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, Israel has bombed and killed about 15,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
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The ceasefire started early on Friday. As part of the deal, 50 women and children being held in Gaza will be freed over the next four days in return for 150 Palestinian women and children who are among the thousands of people being held in Israeli jails.
On Friday, 39 Palestinians were freed in the occupied West Bank in exchange for the freedom of 24 prisoners, 13 of whom were Israeli. More are likely to come out on Saturday afternoon.
Biden said after the first prisoners freed by Hamas were set free, “It’s only a start, but so far it’s gone well.”
Even though both Israel and Hamas have said they will keep fighting, Israel has said it is willing to extend the ceasefire if 10 more prisoners are freed every day. Biden said he hoped this would happen.
For the non-citizen Israelis that Hamas is holding, it says it will only trade them for the thousands of Palestinians that are being held in harsh conditions in Israeli jails, many of whom are not even charged.
As part of the cease-fire on Friday, about 200 trucks carrying emergency aid also made their way into the besieged area. On Saturday, the first deliveries into northern Gaza since the war began arrived.
Unfortunately, there is still a lot of damage in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip. On Friday, the UN confirmed that Israel greatly increased its strikes in Gaza before the truce started.