Biden: Hope for ceasefire in Gaza on March 4

Joe Biden said he hopes the ceasefire in Gaza will begin early next week, AFP reported.
"My national security adviser told me we're close, but we're not done yet. My hope is that by March 4 we'll see a ceasefire," the US president said during his visit to New York.
Amid the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, France and other countries are acting as mediators between Israel and Hamas, seeking to end the fighting and release Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
"Representatives of several countries, not including Gaza's ruling Hamas, met in Paris over the weekend and came to an agreement on what the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire would look like," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
After the meeting in Paris, Egyptian, Qatari and American experts met in Doha in recent days for talks, which were also attended by representatives of Israel and Hamas, in the hope of reaching a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A Hamas source told AFP that "some new amendments" have been proposed on the disputed issues, but "Israel has not presented any substantial position on the conditions for a ceasefire and withdrawal from the Gaza Strip"./BGNES