The United States is working on a hostage deal that would include a six-week pause to the war, US President Joe Biden said, as Mossad Chief David Barnea prepared to head to Cairo for another round of negotiations.
“The US is working on a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas which would bring an immediate and sustained period of calm to Gaza for at least six weeks [during] which we could take the time to build something more enduring,” Biden said on Monday.
He spoke as he held a joint press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah, who wants to see a permanent ceasefire, in Gaza while Biden has pushed for a pause to the conflict through a hostage deal.
“The key elements of the deal are on the table, there are gaps that remain, but I have encouraged Israeli leaders to keep working to achieve the deal,” Biden said.
“The US will do everything possible to make it happen,” he said.
It’s expected that Israel would agree to free Palestinian security prisoners including terrorists with blood on their hands in exchange for the phased release of the remaining 134 hostages in Gaza.
Hamas, however, has insisted that a deal must include a permanent ceasefire and a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has insisted that it must be allowed to complete its military mission to destroy Hamas.
The next phase of that campaign is expected to be an operation in Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Biden expressed concern over the IDF operating in Rafah
Biden said that “the major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than one million people sheltering there,” he said.
These people, “need to be protected,” Biden said, adding that he opposed any forced displacement of people in Gaza.
The US has worked to make sure that humanitarian assistance enters Gaza, Biden said, as he highlighted King Abdullah’s role in helping ease the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
Biden spoke of the tragedy of both the Hamas-led October 7th attack against Israel that sparked the Gaza war as well as the deaths of the Palestinian civilians in the enclave as a result of that war.
The October 7th Hamas-led attack against Israel was an act of “sheer evil,” he said, as he described it as the “deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
About the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he said, explaining that those living there “suffered unimaginable pain and loss. “Too many of the over 27,000 Palestinians killed in this conflict have been innocent civilians and children, including thousands of children,” he said.
“It’s heartbreaking. Every innocent life lost in Gaza is a tragedy, just as every innocent life lost in Israel is a tragedy as well,” he said.
He was careful to acknowledge King Abdullah’s “special role” as a custodian of the holy Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem.
Biden pledged his support to a two-state resolution to the conflict, explaining that this was “the only path that guaranteed Israeli’s security for the long term.”
But for Palestinians to seize this moment, Biden said. The Palestinian Authority must undergo a reform process and “be prepared to build a state that accepts peace and does not harbor terrorist groups,” Biden said.
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