Israelis desire truce extension, Biden to speak with Netanyahu

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
26 Nov 2023 19:26
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The US National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan announces that US President Joe Biden has already set a meeting with the Israeli occupation's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss extending the truce.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP)

Israeli media reported that “Israeli officials are interested in extending the truce period with Hamas in Gaza.”

On his part, US National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan underscored that it is expected that US President Joe Biden will speak with the Israeli occupation's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to consider extending the truce.

"In fact, he has a call set for today with Prime Minister Netanyahu," Sullivan said.

Sullivan's statements come after the US President spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, about the truce, earlier last night.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that negotiators are hopeful that the temporary four-day truce in Gaza could be extended by up to four more days to ensure the release of at least 20 additional women and children captives, in addition to the initial batch of 50, said people familiar with the talks.

On its part, Reuters reported earlier, citing an informed Qatari official, that a Qatari delegation visited "Israel" on Saturday to discuss the possible extension of the four-day truce, which began on Friday.

According to the official, "The Qatari operations team also coordinated with Israeli officials to ensure the continuation of the truce and the smooth release of prisoners," mainly after several Israeli violations.

On Saturday, Egypt announced that it had received positive signals from all parties to extend the period of the truce declared in the Gaza Strip.

Cairo confirmed that intensive Egyptian contacts are currently underway with all parties, “to extend the truce period between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, for an additional day or two, which means the release of more captives in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.”

Biden moves to lift all restrictions on Israeli access to US weapons

This comes as the White House demanded all limits on weapons and ammunition permissible to "Israel" from US stockpiles be lifted, a report by The Intercept revealed.

The lifting of limits was part of the White House's supplemental budget proposal, which was given to the Senate on October 20. "This request would allow for the transfer of all categories of defense articles," according to the suggested budget.

The billions of dollars the US has been providing the Israeli occupation with are clearly not enough for its genocidal actions, since the request is for unknown weapons depots in "Israel" that the Pentagon developed for use in regional crises.

John Ramming Chappell, a legal fellow with the Center for Civilians in Conflict, expressed that the amendments "would create a two-step around restrictions on U.S. weapons transfers to 'Israel'.”

Back in January 2022, US-based Breaking Defense military news outlet reported that Israeli military sources disclosed it has a list of weapons it plans to urge the US to add to its American emergency stockpile in "Israel" as a safeguard for possible future wars in the region.