International Desk

The United States said Tuesday it was time to “finalise” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to bow to pressure.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller spoke a day after Netanyahu doubled down despite domestic and international pressure following the recovery by Israel’s military of six killed hostages from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

“There are dozens of hostages still remaining in Gaza, still waiting for a deal that will bring them home. It is time to finalise that deal,” Miller said.

“The people of Israel cannot afford to wait any longer. The Palestinian people, who are also suffering the terrible effects of this war, cannot afford to wait any longer. The world cannot afford to wait any longer.”

Miller said Washington would work “over the coming days” with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement”.

John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, echoed this sentiment, saying, “we believe we can close this” truce deal.

Despite increasing grief and fury among Israelis, who have taken to the streets to pressure the government, Netanyahu said he would “not give in to pressure” during indirect negotiations with Hamas.

The military said it recovered six hostages who were captured alive during Hamas’s October 7 attack but were found shot dead shortly before their discovery.

– Philadelphi Corridor –

UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an “independent, impartial and transparent investigation” into reports they were summarily executed.

US President Joe Biden, meeting with negotiators, replied “no” when asked if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal.

Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition relies on the support of far-right ministers who oppose a truce, said Hamas’s refusal to make concessions was the real obstacle.

“I will not give in to pressure,” Netanyahu said, adding Israel must control Gaza’s border with Egypt to stop Hamas from rearming.

Egypt on Tuesday rejected accusations its Gaza border was being used to arm Hamas, and accused Netanyahu of seeking to “distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct reaching a ceasefire deal”.

“We are opposed to the long-term presence of IDF troops in Gaza,” Miller said, referring to Israel’s military.

Netanyahu on Monday said “the achievement of the war’s objectives” requires control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

– ‘Occupy indefinitely’ –

Hamas has long demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and Egyptian officials have objected to an Israeli military presence on the border.

Netanyahu “wants to occupy Gaza on some level indefinitely” and was now “just saying it more openly”, analyst Mairav Zonszein told AFP.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained troops and settlers there until 2005, when it withdrew but imposed a crippling blockade and, since the start of the current war, a total siege.

Increasing the pressure on Israel, Britain on Monday said it would suspend some arms exports, citing a “clear risk” they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

On Tuesday, the civil defence spokesman in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli raid on a college killed two people and injured 30.

Israel’s military said it had targeted “Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command-and-control centre… embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Numaa College in Gaza City”.

Earlier, civil defence rescuers in Gaza reported two dead in a strike on a displacement camp near Khan Yunis.

The civil defence agency, witnesses and AFP correspondents also reported air strikes and shelling across southern and central Gaza.

– Vaccination drive –

Israel’s campaign against Hamas has so far killed at least 40,819 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November — the only one so far.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said Monday remaining hostages would return “inside coffins” if Israel maintains its military pressure on the territory.

With Gaza in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee, often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions, disease has spread.

After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a vaccination drive began Sunday amid localised “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.

More than 161,000 children have now received a first vaccine dose in central Gaza, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. It aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children altogether.

In the north of the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli forces pressed ahead with raids that began nearly a week ago and that the Palestinian health ministry said have killed at least 30 people.