White House national security spokesman John Kirby spoke to reporters on Monday and commented on President Joe Biden’s outline for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, which Biden presented in a speech this past Friday.
“It is fair to say that the ball is in Hamas’s court,” Kirby said.
He also said that the White House agrees with Prime Minister Netanyahu that Israel has the right to destroy Hamas’ capabilities, but that now is the time to move to the next stage, to begin the first stage of freeing some of the hostages and start discussing the second stage.
Kirby insisted that the proposal outlined by Biden was an Israeli proposal.
“I’ve heard different statements coming out of Israel,” Kirby said, adding that the proposal outlined by Biden “accurately reflects that proposal that we worked with the Israelis on”.
His comments came after Netanyahu participated in a discussion of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and commented on the deal presented by Biden.
"I will not be ready to stop the war. Despite what President Biden said, it has not yet been agreed how many hostages will be released in the first phase. We can stop the fighting for 42 days in order to return the hostages. We cannot stop the war. The Iranians and all our enemies are looking at us, and want to see if we surrender," emphasized the Prime Minister.
He noted that "there are many more details in the deal and the war will not end without achieving all of our objectives. Don't pay attention to the publications, there's a lot of fake news going around. We will not give up on total victory."