Biden Details Gaza Truce Proposal, Hamas Responds Positively
Editor
1 June 2024 10:20 WIB
AN INDEFINITE WAR
In his speech, Biden called on the Israeli leadership to resist pressure from those in Israel who were pushing for the war to go on "indefinitely," a group he said included some in the Israeli governing coalition.
"They want to occupy Gaza. They want to keep fighting for years and hostages are not a priority for them. Well, I've urged leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal, despite whatever pressure comes," he added.
He implored Israelis not to miss the chance for a ceasefire.
"As the only American president who has ever gone to Israel at a time of war, as someone who just sent the U.S. 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."
The Gaza war has put Biden in a political bind.
On the one hand, he has long been a staunch supporter of Israel and would like to ensure funding and support from the pro-Israel community in the United States in his Nov. 5 election rematch against Republican former President Donald Trump.
On the other, progressive elements of Biden's Democratic Party have grown increasingly angry at the president for the suffering the conflict has caused civilians in Gaza.
Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked, and the United Nations says over a million people face "catastrophic" levels of hunger as famine takes hold in parts of the enclave.
Signaling a U.S. effort to build support for the proposal, the State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Jordanian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts.
Speaking to the Turkish foreign minister, "he emphasized that Hamas should accept the deal and that every country with a relationship with Hamas should press it to do so without delay,' the State Department said.
In a sign of support for Israel despite the partisan divide in the United States, leaders of the Democratic-led U.S. Senate and of the Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress.
The week has been dominated by the fallout from an Israeli air strike in Rafah on Sunday that killed 45 Palestinians.
"The Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war," Biden said on Friday. "We all saw the terrible images from the deadly fire in Rafah earlier this week."
REUTERS
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