Biden details 3-phase Gaza truce
Negotiators from Qatar and Egypt are pushing Hamas leadership to accept ceasefire proposal
American President Joe Biden on Friday laid out what he described as a threephase Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of Israeli hostages, saying "it is time for this war to end", now in its eighth month.
The first phase involves a six-week ceasefire when Israeli forces would withdraw from "all populated areas" of Gaza, some hostages, including the elderly and women, would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian civilians could return to their homes in Gaza and 600 trucks a day would bring humanitarian aid into the devastated enclave.
In this phase, Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent ceasefire that Biden said would last "as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments" . If negotiations took more than six weeks, the temporary ceasefire would extend while they continued.
In the second phase of the truce, Biden said, there would be an exchange for all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and the permanent ceasefire would begin.
The third phase would include a major reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of the "final remains" of hostages to their families.
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which Biden said, received the proposal from Qatar, released a statement reacting positively.
Hamas said it was ready to engage "positively and in a constructive manner" with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces, the reconstruction of Gaza, a return of those displaced, and a “genuine prisoner swap deal” if Israel clearly “announces commitment to such a deal".
According to insiders, negotiators from Qatar and Egypt are pushing the Hamas political leadership to accept the ceasefire proposal mooted by Israel at the behest of the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had authorized his negotiating team to present the deal, "while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas' military and governmental capabilities".
A report from Washington said the leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives invited Israeli Prime MinisterNetanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress, in a show of support amid partisan divides over Israel's campaign in Gaza. The proposed date for the speech was not set.
A report from New York said that hundreds of proPalestinian protesters banging drums and chanting marched to the Brooklyn Museum on Friday afternoon, set up tents in the lobby and unfurled a “Free Palestine" banner from the building's roof before police moved in to make arrests.
Officers tackled protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers and shouted insults.