US President Joe Biden stressed the importance of a Gaza ceasefire, which he said has the backing of Israel and most of the international community, in an interview he gave to ABC while visiting France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
“We have to get a ceasefire,” he said in an interview published late Thursday night, close to one week after he unveiled a three-phase deal that sets a pathway for the return of the remaining 124 hostages and an end to the Gaza war.
When pressed if he thought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on board with the agreement, Biden responded that “he has said publicly that he is. Our European friends are in on it.”
It’s also backed by Egypt, the Saudis, and almost the whole Arab world.
He spoke as the US, Israel, and the countries mediating the deal through third-party talks, Egypt and Qatar, are awaiting a response to what Biden has characterized as an Israeli offer.
Public statements by Hamas have not been promising, as they have highlighted the fact that the deal could move forward for six weeks at least, without answering the questions of a permanent end to the Gaza war.
Hamas’s end of the deal
Hamas has continued to publicly insist that Israel promise to end the war and fully withdraw from Gaza as a pre-condition to any deal.
Israel has agreed to pause the war and withdraw from populated areas in the first phase but has left the question of a permanent ceasefire as a topic of negotiation that would be dealt with in the transition from phase one to phase two of the deal.
The US has insisted that the proposal is on the table until such time as Qatar and Egypt report that the proposal has been rejected. The Qatari Foreign Ministry has said that the proposal has not yet been rejected.
Aside from its public diplomatic campaign, CNN reported that the US is pressuring Hamas to take the deal, by threatening to have the group’s leaders kicked out of Qatar and by closing their international bank accounts through sanctions.
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