US president Joe Biden said Israel has offered “a comprehensive new proposal” for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that would take place over three phases, urging Hamas to accept the deal and bring the war to an end.
The deal is similar to previous ceasefire proposals but it is believed Israel showed greater flexibility over how many hostages Hamas would be required release in the first phase.
Although Israel would not specifically commit to ending the war, Mr Biden said the deal created a pathway towards such a scenario. “As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, a cessation of hostilities permanently,” he said. “The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security, because they’ve devastated Hamas over the past eight months,” he said.
“At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7th,” the US president said, in reference to the attack on Israel by the militant group that rules Gaza, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
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The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 36,200 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its war on Gaza in response to the October 7th attack.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Biden said: “You can’t lose this moment, indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory, draining the economic, military, human and human resources and furthering Israel’s isolation in the world. That will not bring hostages home. That will not bring an enduring defeat of Hamas. That will not bring Israel lasting security.”
“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” he said.
Before Mr Biden spoke, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group had notified mediators in negotiations with Israel that it hadn’t changed its position, and continued to demand a full ceasefire and withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza in exchange for a hostage deal.
Hamas released on Friday a voice recording of 26-year-old Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped at the Nova music festival on October 7th. It is not clear when the recording was made. In videos uploaded to social media during the war’s first days, Ms Argamani was seen being transported on a motorcycle into the Gaza Strip.
A group representing family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza accused the government of failing to prioritise the release of the captives over other war aims, saying it had “made a conscious and deliberate decision to sacrifice the hostages”.
The Israeli military confirmed on Friday that its forces were operating in central parts of Rafah as they continued to advance in the southern Gazan city, the last bastion of Hamas military control in the coastal enclave.
The military said in a statement that its troops in central Rafah had uncovered Hamas rocket launchers and tunnels and dismantled a weapons storage facility.
Israel launched its attack on Rafah on May 6th in the face of international concern over the potential for mass civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster, and has mainly been operating in the eastern neighbourhoods and close to the border with Egypt.
In Jabilia, north of Gaza city, Israeli forces completed a large-scale military incursion, during which some 500-600 Hamas militants were killed, according to the Israeli military. Returning residents described scenes of “total destruction”, some saying they were unable to locate where their homes had once stood amid the rubble.
The humanitarian aid allowed into the Gaza Strip is not getting to civilians in need, the United Nations said on Friday, urging Israel to fulfil its legal obligations. “The aid that is getting in is not getting to the people, and that’s a major problem,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a media briefing in Geneva.
