Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators called on Israel and Hamas Saturday to “finalize” the truce deal outlined by US President Joe Biden, which he said Jerusalem was offering as a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire.
Shortly after Biden’s announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement insisting that Israel would pursue the war until it had achieved all its aims.
He reiterated that position on Saturday, saying 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.”
Hamas, meanwhile, said it “views positively” the Israeli plan laid out by Biden.
In a joint statement on Saturday, Qatar, the United States and Egypt said that “as mediators in the ongoing discussions to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages and detainees,” they “call on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden.”
In his first major address outlining a possible end to the nearly eight-month war, the US president said Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.
It would also 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.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Friday to press the deal, and on Saturday spoke with the Qatari, Egyptian and Emirati foreign ministers.
UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” the latest development “will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting that according to the “exact outline proposed by Israel,” the transition from one stage to the next was “conditional” and crafted to allow it to maintain its war aims.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said the government “cannot ignore Biden’s important speech” and should accept the proposed deal, vowing to back Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners quit over it.
“I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net for a hostage deal,” Lapid said Saturday on social media platform X.
Shortly after, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leaders of the Israeli parliament’s two extreme-right parties, said they would leave the government if it endorses the current truce proposal.
Netanyahu has come under increasing domestic pressure over the fate of the remaining hostages and from a resurgent anti-government movement, with Israelis rallying weekly on Saturday nights near military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
It is believed that 121 hostages remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 37 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 36,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The toll, which cannot be verified as it does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians, includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle.
Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. According to a IDF tally, 294 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Strip.