White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said today that Israel had agreed to hold four-hour “pauses” in the fighting to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and for civilians to move south to safety. “We’ve been told by the Israelis that there will be no military operations in these areas over the duration of the pause, and that this process is starting today,” Kirby said.
As for the notion that a longer ceasefire could be in the future, Kirby made clear that there would be no general ceasefire, claiming it would only help Hamas to “legitimize what they did” on Oct. 7, “and we simply are not going to stand for that at this time.”
