US official: There’s no hard deadline for truce, but we know Haniyeh calling for violence over Ramadan

One of the senior US officials briefing reporters acknowledges that the Biden administration is working to secure a temporary ceasefire deal before Ramadan, which starts around March 10. However, they clarify that “there’s no hard and fast deadline on this negotiation.”

“We recognize that extremists could try to use Ramadan to spark something that would be deeply unfortunate in that holy month, and we want to make sure that we have a peaceful period so people can worship,” the senior official says. “We’re working that through with the Israelis, with the Palestinian Authority, with the Jordanians and others.”

“[Ismail] Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, has called for violence over Ramadan. We recognize that this is something that they might very well try to do. It’s always a volatile period… We fully recognize what [Hamas’s] intentions might be.”