Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday stated that a lasting ceasefire in Gaza would not be possible until Hamas was eliminated, casting doubt on a crucial element of a truce proposal that U.S. President Joe Biden said had originated from Israel.
Netanyahu’s statement came after U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday that Israel had proposed a three-phase deal for a ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages.
“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: The destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said as reported by Reuters.
“Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place. The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” he added.
Later, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid took to X to urge the prime minister to listen to U.S. President Joe Biden’s address, in which the president advocated for an Israeli-proposed hostage-ceasefire deal.
He also urged Netanyahu to heed Biden’s call for a Gaza truce and offered to support the government should far-right coalition partners bolt.
“The government of Israel cannot ignore President Biden’s consequential speech. There is a deal on the table and it should be made,” Lapid said in an X post.
“I remind Netanyahu that he has a safety net from us for a hostage-release deal if [Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich leave the government.”
Families of hostages held by the Hamas terror group also urged all parties to immediately accept Biden’s proposal to end the nearly 8-month-long war and bring their relatives home.
“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 weeklong 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.
“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 Lifshitz told AP.
Hamas earlier on Saturday said it had a positive view of the proposal.
“Hamas confirms its readiness to deal positively and in a constructive manner with any proposal that is based on the permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal [of Israeli forces] from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction [of Gaza], and the return of the displaced to their places, along with the fulfillment of a genuine prisoner swap deal if the occupation clearly announces commitment to such deal,” the group said in a statement.
