Biden says Israel offers new roadmap to end Gaza war

AFP | Rafah, Palestinian Territories

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

US President Joe Biden said yesterday that Israel was offering a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire in Gaza that he urged Hamas to accept, saying it’s “time for this war to end”.

But swiftly afterwards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on Biden’s talk of peace, insisting that the army would continue fighting until it had “eliminated” Hamas’s capacity to rule Gaza and pose a military threat.

Biden’s intervention, which had been heavily trailed, came as Israeli troops pushed into central Rafah, escalating the nearly eight-month war with Hamas despite international objections to any assault on the southern Gaza city.

It also came as top diplomat Antony Blinken acknowledged that despite US efforts to get more aid into Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory remained “dire”.

In his first major address outlining how the Gaza war might end, Biden said that Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

It would also see the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for (the) release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire -- but the truce would continue while the talks remained underway, Biden said.

The US president urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer.

“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” he said. British Foreign Minister David Cameron echoed his comments. “Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end,” he said.