Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas have called for all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed by US President Joe Biden.
The deal would end the nearly eight-month-long war and bring their relatives home, but Israel’s government said conditions for a ceasefire still must be met.
Mr Biden outlined a three-phase deal on Friday proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel. He urged the Israelis and Hamas to come to an agreement to release some 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, for an extended ceasefire.
Israel has now offered a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire – and the release of all the hostages.
Yesterday, this proposal was transmitted by Qatar to Hamas.
Today, I want to lay out its terms for the world. pic.twitter.com/0cdypBP9wb— President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
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Ceasefire talks ground to a halt last month after a major push by the US and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is vital to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war.
Israel on Friday confirmed its troops were operating in central parts of the city. The ground assault has led to an exodus of around one million Palestinians out of the city and has thrown UN humanitarian operations based in the area into turmoil.
Following Mr Biden’s speech, hostage families said on Saturday that time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal.
“We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told The Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and freed during a week-long ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, is still being held.
“This might be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the current state must be changed and we expect all to adhere to Biden’s call for accepting the deal on the table, immediately. There is no other way towards a better situation for all. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But mostly, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.
This is a decisive moment.
Now is the time to raise your voices and demand that Hamas comes to the table, agrees to this deal, and ends this war that they began. pic.twitter.com/ugWZYmaWuJ— President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
The proposal came after what hostage families said was an aggressive meeting on Thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government was not ready to sign a deal to bring all of the hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Mr Hanegbi said this week he expects the war to drag on for another seven months, in order to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return the hostages, and on Saturday, the government said its conditions for ending the war had not changed. Putting a permanent ceasefire in place before the conditions are fulfilled is a “non-starter,” it said.
Many hostage families blame the government’s lack of will to secure a deal for the deaths of many of the hostages in captivity.
“We know that the government of Israel has done an awful lot to delay reaching a deal and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. Our hearts are broken by the amount of people we will receive that are no longer alive,” Sharone Lifschitz told AP. Her mother Yocheved was freed in the November ceasefire, and her father Oded is still in captivity.
The first phase of the deal announced by Mr Biden would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
This is a decisive moment:
Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove they mean it.
Hamas needs to take the deal. pic.twitter.com/UcXOP3iZG6— President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
Mr Biden acknowledged that keeping the Israeli proposal on track would be difficult, saying there were a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. The proposal says that if the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as there are negotiations.
Mr Biden said that if Hamas fails to fulfil its commitment under the deal, Israel can resume military operations.
Hamas said in a statement on Friday it viewed the proposal presented by Mr Biden “positively” and called on the Israelis to declare explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a prisoner exchange and other conditions.
Our proposal to end the war in Gaza begins with a complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in Gaza, the release of hostages and hostage remains, the ability for Palestinians to return to Gaza, and a surge of humanitarian assistance.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
While the proposal is similar to previous ones, the main difference is the readiness to stop the war for an undefined period, according to analysts. It still leaves Israel the option the renew the war and diminish Hamas’s ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum in Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University.
Still, experts say Mr Biden’s speech was one of the first times in the war that provided hope that it might end and bring the hostages home.
“It was a very good speech … it seems that Biden is trying to force it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organisation. Israelis must take to the streets to demand that the government of Israel accept it, he said.
Meanwhile fighting continued in Gaza.
On Saturday, Israel’s army said it killed a Hamas fighter responsible for directing attacks in Israel and the West Bank and earlier this week, it said its aircraft killed a Hamas fighter in central Gaza who was head of the technology department for its internal security forces.
More than 36,170 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s campaign of bombardment and offensives over the past eight months, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
