Biden pushes new plan for Gaza truce, Hamas responds positively

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel had offered a new roadmap towards a permanent peace in Gaza, which Hamas said it "considers positively."

In his first major address outlining a solution to the conflict, Biden said the three-phase proposal starts with a six-week complete ceasefire that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

"It's time for this war to end, for the day after to begin," Biden said in a televised address from the White House.

"Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal. It's a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages," he said.

"Hamas needs to take the deal," said Biden, who has supported Israel with billions of dollars in military aid since the conflict began.

But Biden said he had also urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders not to "lose this moment," saying Israel's offensive had significantly degraded Hamas.

"Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another Oct. 7," said Biden.

Biden said the first six-week phase would include a "full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners."

Israel and Hamas would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire — but the truce would continue if the talks remained underway, Biden said.

"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," added Biden.

A third phase would involve years of internationally backed reconstruction.

  Small gaps 

Biden's address comes after repeated attempts to end the war have stalled.

Netanyahu said after Biden's speech that the Gaza war would not end until the "elimination" of Hamas's capacity to govern and make war.

Hamas, which received the proposal on Wednesday through mediator Qatar, has insisted that any ceasefire should be permanent.

But in a statement, the movement said on Friday it "considers positively" the contents of Biden's speech.

Earlier Friday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reiterated that the group's core demands — including a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal — "are non-negotiable."

A senior U.S. official said however that the new Israeli proposal was "almost identical" to what Hamas itself had offered a few weeks ago — admitting that there were still "small gaps."

Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken called his counterparts from Türkiye, Jordan and Saudi Arabia on Friday to press the deal.

Blinken "underscored that the proposal is in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the long-term security of the region," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

  Rafah 

Biden did not significantly address Israel's assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Israeli army said Friday its troops had pushed into the city center despite international objections.

Biden acknowledged however that Palestinians were enduring "sheer hell."

The U.S. president has been under international pressure over his support for Israel since a deadly strike on Rafah set ablaze a crowded camp on Sunday. Gaza officials said 45 people were killed and about 250 wounded.

The White House however said this week that while the Israeli strike was "devastating," it did not breach Biden's red lines for withholding weapons deliveries to the key U.S. ally.

'Everything is ashes' 

Israel launched its war on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Hamas also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza; among them 37 the army says are dead.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

A medical official at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah said eight people, including two children, were killed in an air strike that hit a house in Al-Bureij refugee camp.

Another source at Nuseirat's Al-Awda Hospital reported three deaths in a strike on a car.

In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and its neighbouring refugee camp, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanoun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.

The Israeli army said troops "completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip".

Jabalia shopkeeper Belal al-Kahlot said there was nothing left of his store after the Israeli operation. "Everything is ashes."