US President Joe Biden said on Friday Hamas’s military capabilities have declined significantly since October, so it no longer poses a serious threat to Israel, revealing the three-phase ceasefire proposal Israel has presented to resolve the crisis, according to CNN.
Biden offered this analysis by outlining a new three-phase ceasefire proposal offered by Israel to Hamas that would lead to the release of all hostages and a permanent cessation of hostilities. He said at the White House:
The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security, because they’ve devastated Hamas forces over the past eight months. At this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7, just one of Israel’s main objectives in this war, and quite frankly a righteous one.
He was referring to the militant group’s surprise attack on Israeli soil in October, which killed about 1,200 people and resulted in 250 hostages. Israel responded with a counter-offensive into Gaza, bringing Palestinian civilian casualties to more than 35,000.
According to President Biden, the plan entails the following:
- The first phase would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
- The second phase would allow for the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.”
- In the third phase a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families.”
Israeli and Hamas positions
Publicly, Israeli officials have said they will not agree to a permanent ceasefire until the Hamas army is completely destroyed. Earlier this week, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said he expects the war to last at least another seven months, until the end of the year. The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement as follows:
“The Israeli government is united in the desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal. Therefore, the Prime Minister authorised the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving this goal while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas‘ military and governmental capabilities.”
Talks between Israel and Hamas over the release of the hostages were suspended three weeks ago after the sides failed to agree on some terms.
Hamas has rejected previous ceasefire agreements because they did not offer a path to a permanent end to the war. However, Hamas issued a statement on Friday saying it viewed the proposal favourably. It said:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas views positively what was included in US President Joe Biden’s speech today. The movement affirms its position of readiness to deal positively and constructively with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, the return of the displaced to all their places of residence, and the completion of a serious prisoner exchange deal if the occupation declares its explicit commitment to that.”
Despite, in a statement after Biden’s speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that an agreement with Hamas is on the table, but appears to leave the door open for a continuation of Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Antony Blinken briefs colleagues on the proposal
US Secretary of State Anhony Blinken on Friday briefed his counterparts from Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia on the Israeli proposal, which is special because it involves a permanent ceasefire. Blinken is expected to make another call to his colleagues on Saturday, a senior State Department official said.
The calls by the top US diplomat will be just the beginning of diplomatic pressure to get Hamas to accept the deal, CNN reported. Blinken said everything is now on Hamas’ side and it must accept the deal without delay, and he emphasised that countries that have relations with Hamas – Turkey – must persuade the group to accept the agreement.
Blinken outlined “the benefits of the deal” and walked “the foreign ministers through the deal that was sent to Hamas last night, making sure that they … understood the benefits to the Palestinian people, the benefits to Israel and the benefits to long-term security plans that we’ve been working on,” according to the official traveling with Blinken.
Appeal for Israeli public support
In his speech, Biden made a direct appeal to ordinary Israelis to express their support for the hostage agreement that will lead to a ceasefire. He said the following:
I need your help. Everyone who wants peace now must raise their voices and let the leaders know they should take this deal. Work to make it real, make it lasting, and forge a better future out of the tragic terrorist attack and war.
He also delivered the sharpest criticism of Israel’s military strategy in the Gaza Strip since the war began:
You can’t lose this moment. Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will only bog down Israel in Gaza… and further Israel’s isolation in the world. (…) We all saw the terrible images from a deadly fire in Rafah earlier this week following an Israeli strike… targeting Hamas.
Earlier on Friday, Israel issued a statement saying that the IDF had entered the centre of Rafah, a town in southern Gaza. According to satellite images analysed by The Washington Post, Israeli troops entered the most populated areas of Rafah and demolished many buildings along the way, radically changing the geography of the area. The White House called the disaster footage “heartbreaking” but said the incident did not cross Biden’s red line for delaying the delivery of some US weapons to Israel.
