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Demonstration by hostage relatives on Saturday in Tel Aviv

Photo: Abir Sultan / EPA

What to do in the Gaza war?

And above all: with the people in the Gaza Strip?

A humanitarian catastrophe is taking place in the area, and the Israeli military mission and its supporters are coming under increasing pressure.

And calls for a ceasefire are getting louder.

Now even the tone between Washington and the Israeli government is becoming harsher.

The US government of President Joe Biden has actually been supporting the Israeli leadership around Benjamin Netanyahu since the beginning of the war.

However, Biden appears to be becoming more impatient.

After he recently - presumably - unintentionally vented his frustration with Netanyahu, he has now made it clear in an interview with the US broadcaster MSNBC.

“I want to see a ceasefire, starting with a major prisoner exchange.

For a period of six weeks,” Biden said.

He has spoken to the majority of Arab heads of state and government, "from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Jordan, everyone is ready to fully recognize Israel and begin rebuilding the region."

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Joe Biden during his State of the Union address in the US Congress on March 7th

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Netanyahu's warfare hurts Israel more than it helps, Biden said in the interview.

The Israeli prime minister has “a right to defend Israel, a right to persecute Hamas,” Biden said.

But he must “pay more attention to the innocent people who die as a result of the measures taken.”

Biden's problem: The US President has been criticized for his Israel policy since the beginning of the Gaza war with the terrorist attack on Israel by the radical Islamic Hamas on October 7th.

The first voters made him feel this in the primaries, including on Super Tuesday; Biden wants to run against former President Donald Trump in November.

How tense the mood in the USA is became clear before Biden's State of the Union speech in the US Congress on Thursday.

Participants in a pro-Palestinian demonstration accused the American president of genocide.

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Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck in Chicago on Saturday

Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa

However, criticism of the Israeli actions is not only coming from the USA or even Israel itself. On Saturday there were again demonstrations against the Israeli government and even clashes with the police in Tel Aviv.

The federal government is also supporting Biden.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) appealed to the Israeli government to change its approach in Gaza.

“What is happening there is bad for the civilian population,” Habeck told Die Welt during his visit to the USA.

The minister therefore expressed understanding for Israel's position that, after the destruction of 80 percent of Hamas structures, they cannot stop now, but "We have to do it differently and with more protection for the civilian population."

Little hope for a quick ceasefire

However, statements from Israel only provide limited hope for a quick ceasefire.

The head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, said that Hamas in the Gaza Strip is currently not interested in a ceasefire.

Rather, the radical Islamic organization is striving to "set the region on fire during Ramadan."

Negotiators in the war had originally hoped for a ceasefire to start in Ramadan.

The holy month of fasting for Muslims worldwide is starting these days.

Depending on the interpretation of the Islamic lunar calendar, either on Sunday or Monday.

On Friday, Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida called on Palestinians to march to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount during the month of fasting.

"May the blessed month of Ramadan (...) become the maximum tidal wave on the streets and fronts inside and outside Palestine," he said.

Hamas calls the terrorist attack on Israel the “Al-Aqsa tidal wave.”

However, according to a media report, Hamas is still willing to negotiate.

"We have not declared that the negotiations have been stopped," said Husam Badran, a member of the Islamist organization's political bureau, to the Wall Street Journal.

At the same time, according to the newspaper, Badran reiterated Hamas' conditions for an agreement.

This includes a permanent ceasefire, sufficient aid supplies across all border crossings, a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and a complete withdrawal of the Israeli military.

hba/dpa/Reuters