JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a US guarantee that Tel Aviv can resume its war on the Gaza Strip if there is no progress in implementing a proposed Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap deal, according to Israeli media on Monday.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, citing an unnamed Israeli official, said Washington has agreed to send a letter of commitment, but only after the cease-fire and hostage swap deal is signed.

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’s demands to stop the war.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last October by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Almost 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.  

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala