“My hope is that by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” US President Joe Biden told reporters, following chatter that ceasefire negotiations in Qatar are close to reaching an agreement, report Reuters.

But Netanyahu doesn’t seem interested in ending the war anytime soon: “Unless we have total victory, we can’t have peace. We can’t leave Hamas in place,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News. “Peace will be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties down the line, [but] I don’t think the Palestinians are ready for it”.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh resigned from his postyesterday, amid Arab and US calls for the appointment of a technocratic government to run the Gaza Strip and the West Bank once Israel’s war on Gaza comes to an end as part of a wider settlement to the Palestinian issue.

Gazans won’t be pushed into Sinai, says Israel: Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and IDF chief Herzi Halevi reassured Egypt during their visit to Cairo last week that Israel will take steps to ensure that its planned operation in Rafah won’t lead to the displacement of Palestinians into Sinai, Axios reports, citing two US officials briefed on the issue.

ON THE DIPLOMATIC HOMEFRONT- Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry decried human rights abuses in Gaza and the Israeli occupation in an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. Shoukry also spoke about Gaza with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and produced a joint statement with the Arab Islamic committee calling for an immediate ceasefire and the removal of restrictions on humanitarian aid.

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