US President Joe Biden on Friday gave remarks on the situation in the Middle East, in which he outlined the latest Israeli proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and urged both Israel and Hamas to agree to it.
The Israeli proposal which was transmitted by Qatar to Hamas, Biden revealed, includes three phases, the first of which “would last for six weeks ... [and] would include a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
Phase two would see the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, Israeli forces, with withdrawal from Gaza. “As long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, a cessation of hostilities permanently," Biden added.
If negotiations on phase two take more than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue as long as talks continue, he stated.
Phase three would encompass "a major reconstruction plan for Gaza," said the President, as well as the repatriation of the remains of deceased hostages to their families.
Biden then asserted that Israel should be comfortable with the proposal because of the devastation Hamas has suffered in the war.
"The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security, because they've devastated Hamas over the past eight months," said Biden.
"At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7," the President claimed. "You can't lose this moment, indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory, draining the economic, military, human and human resources and furthering Israel's isolation in the world. That will not bring hostages home, that will not bring an enduring defeat of Hamas, that will not bring Israel lasting security."
"As someone who's had a lifelong commitment to Israel, as the only American president who has ever gone to Israel at a time of war, as someone who just sent the US forces to directly defend Israel when it was attacked by Iran, I ask you to take a step back, think what will happen if this moment is lost," he said. "We can't lose this moment."
"It's time for this war to end, for the day after to begin," Biden stressed.
A senior Israeli official responded to Biden’s remarks and said, "A weak speech - a victory for Hamas. He does not understand the reality here."
Biden began his remarks by briefly commenting on former President Donald Trump’s conviction on Thursday in all 34 counts in his hush money trial, rejecting Trump’s claims that the trial was “rigged”.
Saying the verdict reaffirmed “the American principle that no one is above the law”, the President added that the jury was made up of regular Americans, "12 people like you," who heard evidence and returned a unanimous verdict.
“This jury was chosen the same way every jury in America is chosen,” Biden said, adding that Trump’s lawyers were part of that process.
"After careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict they found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts," Biden said, adding Trump “was given every opportunity to defend himself.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)