Families of hostages call for Israel and Hamas to accept
The families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept the three-phase deal outlined by President Biden Friday to end the nearly 8-month-long war and bring their relatives home. However, in a statement Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a permanent cease-fire in Gaza a “nonstarter” until long-standing conditions for ending the war met, appearing to undermine the deal Biden had announced as an Israeli one.
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Israel’s conditions for ending:
The war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” the statement said. “Under the proposal, Israel will continue to insist these conditions met before a permanent cease-fire is put in place.”
U.S., Egypt and Qatar — all of whom have involved in brokering talks between Israel and Hamas since the war began — issued a joint statement later Saturday in which they called “on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Biden,” emphasizing that “these principles brought the demands of all parties together in a deal that serves multiple interests and will bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families. This deal offers a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire and ending the crisis.”
On Friday, Mr. Biden outlined the deal proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel. He urged Hamas to come to an agreement to release some 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, in exchange for an extended cease-fire in Gaza.
“Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s a roadmap to an enduring cease-fire and the release of all hostages. This proposal has transmitted by Qatar to Hamas.”
Following Mr. Biden’s speech Families:
Hostage families told the Associated Press that time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal.
“We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told the AP. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel Gat, is still being held.
“This might be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the current state must be changed and we expect all to adhere to Mr. Biden’s call for accepting the deal on the table, immediately. There is no other way towards a better situation for all. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But mostly, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.
Cease-fire talks ground to a halt last month after a major push by the U.S. and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is vital to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war. Israel on Friday confirmed its troops were operating in central parts of the city.
The proposal came after what hostage families said was a contentious meeting Thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government wasn’t ready to sign a deal to bring all of the hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Hanegbi said this week he expects the war to drag on for another seven months, in order to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
Families Netanyahu has promised:
A “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return the hostages.
Israel war cabinet minister Benny Gantz Saturday called for the cabinet and the negotiation team to convene.
“We committed to continue advancing an arrangement to return the hostages as formulated by the negotiation team and approved by the War Cabinet unanimously, as part of the wider effort to achieve all of the war’s objectives,” Gantz said in a statement.
Many hostage families blame the government’s lack of will to secure a deal for the deaths of many of the hostages in captivity.
“We know that the government of Israel has done an awful lot to delay reaching a deal and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. Our hearts broken by the amount of people we will receive that are no longer alive,” Sharone Lifschitz, told AP. Her mother Yocheved was freed in the November cease-fire, and her father Oded is still in captivity.
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