US President Joe Biden confirmed that Israel is ready to move forward with the terms he announced last week claiming that that Hamas is now the only obstacle to a complete Gaza ceasefire.
The White House reportedly informed that President Biden has told Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that Hamas is the only obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel, and urged him to press the group to accept it.
The ceasefire proposal includes a three-phase plan: Exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, the evacuation of Israeli forces, and the rebuilding of Gaza’s devastation.
The Great 7 (G7) bloc said it stands behind the Biden’s unfolded plan and called on Hamas to accept it as well.
“We, the Leaders of the G7, fully endorse the truce plan that would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in humanitarian assistance for distribution throughout Gaza, and an enduring end to the crisis, with Israel’s security interests and Gazans safety assured,” a statement of this bloc said adding “We call on Hamas to accept this deal, that Israel is ready to move forward with, and we urge countries with influence over Hamas to help ensure that it does so.”
Reportedly Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan welcomed this plan but said Hamas has yet to receive any written documents in this regard. According to the reports the US had urged the UN Security Council to support the three-phase plan that Biden announced to end the war in Gaza that started on October 7 last year.
The US ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US circulated a draft resolution to the 14 other council members to back the proposal for ending this conflict that began with Hamas’ surprise attack “Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without more conditions,” she said. This resolution is said to welcome what Biden announced and call on Hamas to accept it.
It is important to note that when President Biden announced this plan about for days ago, it created controversy within the ranks and files of the Israel’s government and it stood divided. Benjamin Netanyahu voiced for the destruction of Hamas as part to end this war in Gaza. He said that Israel’s conditions for ending this war have not changed after the US president unfolded this ceasefire plan. Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas must be destroyed before Israel will agree to end its war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, urged Netanyahu to agree to a hostage and ceasefire deal, saying his centrist party would support it even if rightwing factions in the governing coalition rebel against the passing of this deal in the parliament. “Israel cannot ignore Biden’s speech. There is a deal on the table and it should be made,” he said. Benny Gantz, a major rival who joined Netanyahu’s emergency unity government after 7 October, said he will resign if the prime minister does not commit to his proposal for governing Gaza. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said this deal would “embarrass” Israel and amount to its surrender to Hamas. “If the government decides to adopt this offer, we will not be part of it and will work to replace the failed leadership with a new one,” he stated this.
After this opposition there emerged an opinion that the US itself gave this proposal, but the rejection came. The US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the cease-fire proposal came by Israel though the US President presented it. “We are completely confident that It is an Israeli proposal. It is a proposal that Israel developed in consultation with the US, Qatar and Egypt,” said this US spokesperson.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby was reported telling media that making public negotiations that officials have declined to reveal in the past for fear of disrupting the negotiation process was not about putting pressure on Israel, but rather, if anything, publicly pressuring Hamas to accept the deal. “The president felt that where we are in this war, where we are in the negotiations to get the hostages out, that it was time for a different approach and a time to make the proposal public, he said.
However, the world has responded positively in response to what the US President announced and it is likely that this peace deal would be put in place soon. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also said after a meeting that they support efforts to negotiate permanent cease-fire. They were also reported dealing positively with the proposal that Biden unfolded. They called for Israel’s full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced Palestinians to areas they left, the launch of reconstruction plan and the true implementation of a two-state solution.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 36,000 people, caused widespread destruction and displacing of the 90 percent of 2.3 Gaza’s population. Gaza said that more than 3,500 children under the age of five are at risk of dying due to shortages of food, nutritional supplements and vaccinations as result of this war. Meanwhile, family members of Israeli captives have also called on their government to accept the deal and urged Netanyahu to publicly support this proposal. Soon there can be peace in Gaza, if US remains stand.
(By Rana Kashif)
