On 8 August, US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Hamad Al Thani, released a joint statement in which they called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent discussions on a ceasefire in Gaza in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August in order to close “remaining gaps” and commence the “implementation of a deal without delay.”

The three leaders said that “there is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay.”

The deal to be discussed is based on Biden’s outline of 31 May and UN Security Council Resolution 2735 of 13 July, which adopted the three-stage ceasefire plan outlined by Biden. This is an originally Israeli proposal, as Biden also mentioned.

The joint statement reaffirmed that there is already a framework agreement, probably referring to Biden’s outline or roadmap, and that it is “time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza, as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families.”

Following the release of the statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his country would send a delegation to the chosen venue for the talks, without elaborating on the responsibilities that such a delegation would have, whether to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in good faith, according to what the joint statement calls a “framework agreement” or, based on precedents, to listen and report back to the Israeli government.

Whatever the case may have been, two days after the release of the joint statement, the Israeli Air Force bombed Al-Taba’een School in the Daraj Tuffah neighbourhood of the Gaza Strip during dawn prayers on 10 August. According to the UK newspaper the Financial Times on 10-11 August, if the death toll from the bombing is confirmed, and Palestinian sources have talked of about 90 people killed, it would make it one of the deadliest Israeli attacks since 7 October last year.

The Israeli army made the often-repeated claim, alibi if you prefer, that the School housed a “Hamas command and control centre,” adding, unsurprisingly for we have become accustomed to the same explanation used on similar occasions, that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” as reported in the Financial Times.

To drive the message home, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Israeli Defence Minister Yaov Gallant on 9 August to reiterate the “urgent need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, and create conditions for broader regional stability.” In the meantime, he warned that “escalation” is in no one’s interest.

While the Biden administration has been pushing for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and putting all the parties on notice that “escalation will not serve” their respective interests, it nevertheless gave the green light to a $3.5 billion arms shipment to Israel, part of the $14.1 billion aid package to the Israeli government made as part of a supplemental authorisation by the US Congress in April.

You might be wondering why Netanyahu would accept a ceasefire agreement, and a permanent one with the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, if the US keeps pouring arms into Israel. Some press reports have indicated that some of the munitions that were used against the Al-Taba’een School were US-made 2,000-pound bombs.

Commenting on the Israeli attack on Al-Tabaeen School this week, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reported this week that at least 17 schools have been hit by Israeli attacks in Gaza, raising serious concerns about compliance with the principles of international humanitarian law (IHL), including distinction, proportionality, and precaution. It added that since 5 August at least seven schools have been targeted, with these “reportedly serving as shelters for internally displaced persons” (IDPs) in Gaza, while one was also serving as a field hospital.

On 11 August, the New York Times quoted a Palestinian surgeon, Tayseer Al-Tanna, who had operated on the victims of the Israeli strikes that nearly demolished Al-Taba’een School on 10 August, as saying that the scene at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was difficult to bear. He explained that doctors had been forced to amputate badly burned and mangled limbs and had had to operate without having enough time to fully sterilise already overused equipment between operations.

It is doubtful that Netanyahu will accept a permanent ceasefire in Gaza at this stage. A few months back, the Israeli military affirmed that the war in Gaza would last at least until the end of this year. Netanyahu is more interested in an open-ended war, not only in Gaza but also with Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon and against Iran, being a proxy war in this case.

The liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on 11 August that unnamed “diplomatic sources” had told the paper that the Biden administration is reaching the point where Netanyahu’s positions concerning the war in Gaza will lead the White House to accuse him publicly of harming the ceasefire talks and preventing the release of the hostages.

Biden told the US CBS network on 11 August that he has been working almost daily on a ceasefire deal, as outlined last May. Needless to say, he is eager for his roadmap to be adopted as part of his political legacy after four years in the White House.

On his watch, and as history will witness, the world has been consumed by two wars without any peaceful resolution of either in the offing, namely the war in Ukraine, now entering its third year, and the war in Gaza that has now been going on for more than 300 days and counting. Biden cannot claim that the policies of his administration have ushered in an era of peace and security worldwide.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert wrote in Haaretz on 10 August that “while Israel battles on multiple fronts, its gravest threat is simmering from within.” If there is one thing that could scuttle the talks in Doha or Cairo on 15 August, even if they take place, it is this “simmering threat” in Israel.

The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 15 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly