BBC: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that “it’s time for this war to end”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There would also be a “surge” of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deal would eventually lead to a permanent “cessation of hostilities” and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamas said it views the proposal “positively”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Biden said that the first phase of the proposed plan would include a “full and complete ceasefire”, the withdrawal of IDF forces from populated areas and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is truly a decisive moment,” he said. “Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ceasefire, he added, would allow more humanitarian aid to reach the beleaguered territory, with “600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza every single day”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second phase would see all remaining living hostages returned, including male soldiers. The ceasefire would then become “the cessation of hostilities, permanently.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among those who have urged Hamas to agree to the proposal was UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said on X that the group “must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We\u2019ve long argued a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps,” Lord Cameron added. “Let\u2019s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also welcomed the development in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter. He said the world had “witnessed too much suffering [and] destruction in Gaza” and said it was “time to stop”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I welcome [President] Biden\u2019s initiative [and] encourage all parties to seize this opportunity for a ceasefire, release of all hostages, guaranteed unhindered humanitarian access [and] ultimately a durable peace in the Middle East,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his speech, Mr Biden acknowledged that negotiations between phases one and two would be difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As recently as a few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was letting it be known that he was implacably opposed to agreeing to end the war as part of a ceasefire deal – making Mr Biden’s reference to the war’s end particularly significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the plan includes many of the details from previous, ultimately failed rounds of talks, the US calls for a permanent ceasefire appear to be a significant concession designed to try and draw Hamas back to negotiations on terms they have already said they would agree to. A permanent ceasefire has been one of the group’s key demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third phase of the proposal would see the final remains of any deceased Israeli hostages returned, as well as a “major reconstruction plan” with US and international assistance to rebuild homes, schools and hospitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BBC: US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that “it’s time for this war to end”. The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. There would also be a “surge” of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The deal would eventually lead to a permanent “cessation of hostilities” and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza. Hamas said it views the proposal “positively”. Speaking at the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39743,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39741\/revisions\/39743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}