Proposal for ceasefire
Netanyahu: War will only end when Hamas is destroyed
01.06.2024, 01:01 a.m.
US President Biden has surprisingly presented a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war. He has publicly called on all members of Israel’s government to give up their opposition to a ceasefire. Netanyahu’s office has now commented.
After US President Joe Biden presented a new proposal for a hostage agreement and a ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out Israel’s war aims. The war will not end until all hostages are returned and Hamas’ leadership and military capabilities are destroyed, Netanyahu’s office said in the evening.
Israel’s head of government had given the negotiating team the green light to present a proposal that could achieve these goals, it said. The statement did not say whether this meant the proposal that Biden has now presented. Israeli media viewed Biden’s powerful speech as an attempt to address the Israeli public directly. The leading broadcaster, Channel 12, interrupted its news program and showed Biden’s speech live. According to the broadcaster, Israel had previously prevented the publication of details.
Hamas is reportedly “positive” about the proposal
The US President had surprisingly presented the new proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, which Israel is said to have agreed to with mediation from the US, Qatar and Egypt. The three-phase plan provides for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Addressing Israel, Biden said the country could enter into the deal without fearing for its own security. After several months of war, the Islamist Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out a massacre like the one on October 7.
Biden also made clear his expectations of the Israeli leadership: “I know that there are some in Israel who do not agree with this plan and will demand that the war continue indefinitely,” said the US President. “Some are even in the governing coalition, and they have made it clear that they want to occupy the Gaza Strip.” They want to keep fighting for years, and the release of the hostages is not a priority for them, he complained. But Biden emphasized: “I have called on the Israeli leadership to stand behind this deal” – despite all the pressure.
According to US sources, Qatar sent the proposal to Hamas. It was painstakingly worked out, “and it is almost identical to what Hamas itself proposed a few weeks ago,” said a high-ranking US government official. The responsibility for a solution now lies with Hamas. The radical Islamic organization later declared that it was positive about the content of the proposal for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas had previously announced that it was ready for an agreement that would see hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners as long as Israel stopped fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The indirect talks on an agreement between the Israeli government and Hamas had so far failed because the Islamist organization had made the final end of the war by Israel a condition for releasing further hostages.
According to the US government, the details are as follows:
- The first phase would last six weeks. It would include: A complete and unconditional ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip. A specific group of hostages would be released first – including women, the elderly and the injured. In return, hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel would be released. Hamas would also have to return the remains of some of the killed hostages to their families. The aim would be to bring humanitarian aid to the coastal area in large quantities immediately after the ceasefire starts and to begin clean-up operations.
- During the six-week phase one, Israel and Hamas would negotiate the necessary agreements to move on to phase two: a permanent end to the fighting. In this second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released, including male soldiers. And the Israeli military would have to withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip. This process would also take about six weeks.
- Phase three would begin reconstruction in Gaza over a period of three to five years, supported by the United States and the international community, and would return the last remains of killed Israeli hostages to their families.