Pressure grows on Israel over Gaza truce proposal

TEL AVIV

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced growing pressure after U.S. President Joe Biden announced a proposed agreement to end the fighting in Gaza, with many Israelis urging the prime to embrace the deal.

Since Biden spoke at the White House on March 31, Netanyahu has insisted Israel will pursue the war.

Netanyahu, a hawkish political veteran leading a fragile right-wing coalition government, is under intense domestic pressure from two sides.

Protesters supporting the hostages, who rallied again in their tens of thousands in Tel Aviv on June 1, are urging him to strike a truce deal, but right-wing extremist allies are threatening to bring down the government if he does.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered Netanyahu a lifeline by vowing to support the government if it strikes a deal to pause the war that has raged for almost eight months.

Netanyahu said on that "Israel's conditions for ending the war have not changed: The destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”

“Under the proposal, Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place."

Hamas, meanwhile, said it "views positively" what Biden on Friday described as the Israeli plan.

Mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt on Saturday said they "call on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leaders of the two extreme-right parties in parliament, quickly warned they would leave the government if it endorsed the truce proposal.

Ben Gvir said on X his party would "dissolve the government", while Smotrich said: "We demand the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages return."

Smotrich said he also opposed the return of displaced Gazans to the territory's north and the "wholesale release of terrorists" in a prisoner swap.

Biden said on May 31 that Israel's three-stage offer would begin with a six-week initial phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of the Gaza Strip.

It would see the "release of a number of hostages" in exchange for "hundreds of Palestinian prisoners" held in Israeli jails.

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue so long as talks are ongoing, Biden said.

"It's time for this war to end, for the day after to begin," he said.

For now, fighting again rocked Gaza overnight and yesterday, with the military reporting more air strikes and ground combat.