US claims Israel agreed to 4-hour daily pauses in Gaza; Netanyahu yet to confirm

livemint.com:

President Joe Biden pressed Israelis for a multi-day stoppage in the fighting in a bid to release hostages held by the militant group. Biden said Thursday that there was “no possibility" of a formal cease-fire at the moment, and said it had “taken a little longer" than he hoped for Israel to agree to the humanitarian pauses.

Biden had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to institute the daily pauses during a Monday call and said he had also asked the Israelis for a pause of at least three days to allow for negotiations over the release of some hostages held by Hamas. “Yes," Biden said, when asked whether he had asked Israel for a three-day pause.

“I’ve asked for even a longer pause for some of them." National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the first daily humanitarian pause would be announced Thursday and that the Israelis had committed to announcing each four-hour window at least three hours in advance. Israel, he said, also was opening a second corridor for civilians to flee the areas that are the current focus of its military campaign against Hamas, with a coastal road joining the territory's main north-south highway.

However, Israel has not issued an official statement confirming the humanitarian pauses. A statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office carried by The Times of Israel has no mention of the four-hour humanitarian pauses the White House announced, and instead pushes the narrative that Israeli forces are already pausing fighting for several hours a day to allow civilians to travel south.