President Joe Biden’s description of Israel’s cease-fire proposal was “not accurate,” a senior Israeli official has told NBC News, as doubts grew Monday over the U.S. ally’s stance on the deal.
Biden said in a surprise announcement Friday that he was outlining a truce proposal that had been made by Israel and passed by mediators to Hamas. But with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing competing pressures — including a threat from right-wing ministers to bring down his government — a senior Israeli official disputed Biden’s description of the cease-fire offer.
The officially specifically disputed that Israel had agreed to fully withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip as part of a deal to free the hostages.
“Israel has not changed its conditions to reach a permanent cease-fire. That will only happen after our objectives are met including destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,” the official said.
The official also said that while the White House described the plan as originating from Israel, it was actually a proposal put forward by mediators that Israel had made amendments and changes to.
“It’s strange that they say it’s an Israeli proposal and at the same time that Israel needs to agree to it,” the official said.
The official added that Israel was awaiting Hamas’ formal response to the proposal.
Biden said Friday the proposal had been sent to the militants via Qatar, which has helped to broker talks for months.
Biden said that Israel had offered a “comprehensive new proposal” that would ultimately lead to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The three-part plan, Biden said, would include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza and release of a number of hostages being held inside the enclave since the Oct. 7 Hamas-lead attack. The first phase of the plan would also see six weeks of a complete cease-fire.
A spokesperson for Hamas released a statement shortly after Biden’s announcement, saying the group “views positively” what was included in his speech. Biden said Friday that Hamas was no longer capable of “carrying out another Oct. 7” because Israel has devastated the militant group over eight months of fighting.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another military faction in Gaza that took part in the attack, said it was reviewing the proposal, but looked at it “with suspicion.”
Netanyahu has yet to speak publicly about Biden’s proposal.
His office released a statement Saturday saying that Israel’s conditions for ending the war had not changed, and that a permanent cease-fire in Gaza was a “nonstarter” until they were met. But in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, said that Israel was not rejecting the deal. It was “a deal we agreed to — it’s not a good deal, but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them,” Falk said.
Biden’s announcement of the proposal has put Netanyahu under renewed pressure at home and abroad.
Two of his right-wing ministers threatened to pull out of the coalition that’s holding his government together if he agrees to the cease-fire deal outlined by Biden. Israeli media reported Monday that Netanyahu was due to meet with his hardline national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, over his threats to quit the government.
At the same time, families of the Israeli hostages have stepped up their demands for the government to make a deal that could secure the release of their loved ones. A huge rally was held in Tel Aviv on Saturday in the wake of Biden’s speech.
The Biden administration also continued its pressure campaign over the weekend.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war Cabinet member Benny Gantz late Sunday, telling both that he “commended” Israel for the proposal and that the onus was now on Hamas to accept it, according to a summary of the calls released by the State Department. (NBC)