The White House announced that Israel agreed to impose daily pauses in the northern Gaza Strip starting this Thursday to allow the departure of the civilian population from the area.

Israel “will implement four-hour breaks each day in areas of the northern Gaza Strip, which will be announced three hours in advance,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said from the White House on Thursday.

“The Israelis told us that there would be no military operations in these areas while the pauses last (and) that this device would begin today,” he added.

Netanyahu proposes that Israel should take over “general security” in Gaza “indefinitely.”

Kirby admitted that “concerns” remain about the possibility of Hamas trying to prevent the departure of civilians.

Regardless, he called on civilians to try to leave “active” areas of the conflict, and also considered it “crucial” that humanitarian aid be extended to areas where civilians are moving.

The White House spokesman recalled that the breaks in southern Gaza have allowed the departure of thousands of people and the access of humanitarian aid, but this aid must increase.

So he estimated that 106 trucks have entered southern Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah crossing, but he hopes that number will rise as soon as possible.

“We need to see more and we need to see more quickly,” said Kirby, who believed that 150 truckloads of humanitarian aid should be coming in a day, and while there are days when that isn’t possible, that would at least objectively.

81 trucks with aid enter Gaza and 12 ambulances transport injured people to Egypt, shortly before the Rafah border crossing is closed again

Biden pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement humanitarian pauses in his attacks so Palestinian civilians could escape.

The Democratic president assured that he had asked Netanyahu for “a break of more than three days.”

However, Biden estimated that “there is no possibility” of a ceasefire in Gaza, in statements to journalists before his departure for Illinois (north). (JO)