Hostage families call for ceasefire deal pushed by Biden. Israel says conditions must be met

Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas have called on all parties to immediately accept a detailed proposal by US President Joe Biden to end the nearly eight-month-old war and return their loved ones home, but the Israeli government said conditions for a ceasefire had yet to be met. be met.

Biden outlined a three-phase deal offered by Israel to Hamas on Friday, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel. He urged the Israelis and Hamas to reach an agreement to release the remaining 100 hostages, as well as the bodies of around 30 others, for a prolonged ceasefire.

Ceasefire talks broke down last month after a major push by the United States and other mediators to reach an agreement in hopes of avoiding a full Israeli invasion of the town of Rafah, in southern Gaza. Israel says the Rafah operation is vital to rooting out Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.

Israel confirmed Friday that its troops were operating in the city's central neighborhoods. The ground assault led to the exodus of around a million Palestinians from the city and plunged UN humanitarian operations based in the region into turmoil.

After Biden's speech, the families of the hostages said Saturday that time is running out and it is up to both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal.

“We want to see people come back alive and soon from Gaza,” Gili Roman told the Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and released during a week-long ceasefire in November, but Yarden's sister-in-law, Carmel, remains detained.

“This may be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the current situation must be changed and we hope that everyone will immediately join Biden's call to accept the proposed agreement. There is no other path to a better situation for everyone. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But above all, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.

The proposal came after what hostage families called an aggressive meeting Thursday with Israel's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them the government was not ready to sign a deal to bring back all the hostages at home and there was no plan B. .

Hanegbi said this week that he expects the war to drag on for another seven months, aimed at destroying the military and government capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.

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. Implementing a permanent ceasefire before conditions are met is a “failure,” he said.

Many hostage families blame the deaths of many hostages in captivity on the government's lack of willingness to reach an agreement.

“We know that the Israeli government did an enormous amount to delay reaching a deal, costing many lives who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. Our hearts are broken by the number of people we receive who are no longer alive,” Sharone Lipschitz told AP. His mother Yocheved was released during the November ceasefire and his father Oded remains in captivity.

The first phase of the deal announced by Biden would last six weeks and include a “total 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.

The second phase would include the release of all remaining hostages, including male soldiers, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding after the devastation caused by war.

Biden acknowledged that it would be difficult to keep the Israeli proposal on track, saying there were a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. The proposal states that if negotiations take more than six weeks for the first phase, the ceasefire will continue as long as there are negotiations. Israel will always have the right to defend itself against the threat to its security. Biden said that if Hamas fails to meet its commitments under the deal, Israel could resume military operations.

Hamas said in a statement Friday that it viewed the proposal presented by Biden “positively” and called on Israelis to declare their explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, an exchange of prisoners and others. terms.

Although the proposal is similar to the previous ones, the main difference lies in the desire to stop the war for an indefinite period, analysts say. That still leaves Israel open to resuming war and diminishing Hamas' ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, director of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center.

Still, experts say Biden's speech was one of the first moments in the war to provide hope that it might end and bring the hostages home.

“It was a very good speech … it seems like Biden is trying to impose it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, Middle East director at the 'Organization of International Communities. Israelis must take to the streets to demand that the Israeli government accept it, he said.

Meanwhile, fighting continued in Gaza.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed a Hamas fighter responsible for attacks in Israel and the West Bank and earlier this week it said its planes had killed a Hamas fighter in central Gaza who was leader of the technology department of its internal security forces.

More than 36,170 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel's campaign of bombings and offensives over the past eight months, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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