Though the truce proposal, accepted by Hamas on May 6, was also accepted by the Americans, Israel had rejected it. Now, Biden is asking the Palestinians to accept Israel’s counterproposal.
US President Joe Biden announced on Friday that Israel has proposed a three-phase plan to end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of the captives.
The president urged the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas to accept the proposal and called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist pressure from coalition members who oppose the plan.
“It’s time to begin this new stage. (…) It’s time for this war to end, and for the day after to begin.”
According to Biden, “Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7, which is one of Israel’s main objective in this war,” which he defined “a righteous one”.
BIDEN: “It’s time to begin this new stage. For the hostages to come home, for Israel to be secure, and for the suffering to stop. It’s time for this war to end, and for the day after to begin.”
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“I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely. (…) Well I’ve urged the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal despite whatever pressure comes,” he said.
According to the US President, the first phase, lasting six weeks, would include what he called a “full and complete ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from “all populated areas of Gaza”.
During this period, an unspecified number of captives, including women, the elderly, and the wounded, would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinian civilians would be allowed to return to their homes throughout Gaza, including areas in the north where Israel has previously imposed restrictions. Humanitarian aid would increase significantly, with 600 trucks entering Gaza daily.
“With a ceasefire, that aid can be safely and effectively distributed to all who need it,” Biden said, adding:
“All that and more would begin immediately, immediately. During the six weeks of phase one, Israel and Hamas would negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, which is a permanent end to hostilities.”
The second phase would involve the exchange of all remaining living captives, including male Israeli military personnel, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
“As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently’,” he added.
BREAKING: Biden says Israel’s new ceasefire deal proposal includes, for the first time, a path to a permanent ceasefire.
The announcement obscures the reality that Biden could force a permanent ceasefire tomorrow by ending military support for Israel. pic.twitter.com/rbFxtHVCrn
— Сeasefire Tracker (@Ceasefire_Track) May 31, 2024
Israel’s Rejection
On May 6, Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh informed the negotiators that Hamas had announced its acceptance of a ceasefire proposal for the besieged Gaza Strip.
Hamas later said that the necessary measures “to ensure the implementation of the agreement were also reviewed after the movement made its decision out of concern for our people and their supreme interests.”
“It is now on the occupation to seize the moment and agree to the proposal presented,” the statement added.
However, Israel rejected the deal and decided instead to go ahead with the invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 36,284 Palestinians have been killed, and 82,057 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
Deadly Airstrikes in Gaza – Civilians Killed as Israeli Genocide Continues
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, Anadolu)
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