Gaza ceasefire hopes fading as Joe Biden admits deal is ‘getting laborious’

Hopes of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza are fading away as Joe Biden admitted achieving a deal was “getting hard”.

World leaders are on edge over fears of an Iranian attack on Israel as tensions in the Middle East grow. It comes as Palestinian health officials claimed 17 people, including five children, died after Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The US, Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker an agreement to end the bloodshed and secure the release of Hamas hostages. But crucial talks scheduled for Thursday were thrown in doubt when Hamas officials said they wouldn’t take part. Hamas official Ahmad Abdul Hadi accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “deceiving and evading and wants to prolong the war”.

Whitehall officials are drawing up emergency plans to protect British nationals as Iran refused to publicly back down following pleas not to strike Israel. It is widely expected to retaliate after a bombing in Tehran killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31. Mr Biden said: “We’ll see what Iran does and we’ll see what happens if there is any attack. But I’m not giving up.”

Keir Starmer told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to “refrain” from launching an attack during a phone call on Monday. But according to reports in Iran, Mr Pezeshkian claimed it was his country’s “right” to strike back.

Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to President Biden, said: “The more time goes by of escalated tensions, the more time goes by of daily conflict, the more the odds and the chances go up for accidents, for mistakes, for inadvertent targets to be hit that could easily cause escalation that goes out of control.”

Lebanese-based Hezbollah said its fighters had fired rockets toward the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona following the latest bombings in Gaza.