Biden takes a big swing at hostage-for-truce deal, puts onus on Israeli, Hamas officials to step up

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden overlooks resistance from key Israeli officials while pressuring Israel and Hamas to agree to a three-phase agreement that could immediately bring dozens of Israeli hostages home, free Palestinian prisoners and perhaps even lead to an endgame in the nearly eight-month-old Gaza war.

Biden’s big swing – during a tough period re-election battle – could also demonstrate to a significant portion of his political base, demoralized by his handling of the conflict, that he is doing his part to end the war that has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians and hundreds of thousands has left them struggling to meet basic needs.

White House officials said Monday the decision by Biden to publicly identify what they described as an Israeli proposal – just one day after it was delivered to Hamas – was driven by the desire to get Hamas on the ground. This move was a departure from the US government’s position throughout the conflict, which required Israelis to speak for themselves on hostage negotiations.

“The president felt that where we are in this war, where we are in the negotiations to get the hostages out, it was time for a different approach and a time to make the proposal public, to try to to stimulate and catalyze the process here. a different outcome,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

Almost immediately after Biden detailed the proposal — which includes a ceasefire and a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza if Hamas releases all hostages — Benjamin Netanyahu The US State Department said it would continue its war until Hamas was destroyed.

Netanyahu’s political survival depends on a far-right coalition that is adamant about rooting out Hamas. He sowed further doubt about the feasibility of the proposal on Monday when he told an Israeli parliamentary committee that there are certain “gaps” in the way Biden has explained the proposal. The prime minister said the Israelis “reserve the right to go to war again.”

Kirby played differences between Biden and Netanyahu and underlined that the proposal was an Israeli proposal. He added that Biden agrees with Israelis that Hamas should not rule post-war Gaza, nor does he “expect that Israel would have to live alongside that kind of terrorist threat.”

“This wasn’t about harassing the Prime Minister, the War Cabinet,” Kirby said. “This was about exposing it to the public to see how good, how faithful and how assertive the Israelis came up with a new proposal. It shows how much they really want to get this done.”

But even if Hamas were to agree to the terms, Netanyahu would have to make some difficult political calculations. Two leading members of his far-right coalition – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – have threatened to leave Netanyahu’s government if he signs the proposal. That would collapse the coalition.

Smotrich said Monday that agreeing to a ceasefire would amount to a humiliation of Israel and a surrender. Increased military pressure, he said, is “the only language understood in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu has also faced pressure from hostages’ families, officials say about 80 people captured by militants i n the October 7 attack are still alive and Hamas is holding the bodies of 43 others – seeking to reach a deal to free their loved ones. However, opposition leader Yair Lapid vowed this weekend that he would provide Netanyahu with a political safety net so that his government does not fall over the deal.

Even as the proposal faces stiff headwinds, the Biden administration said it was cautiously optimistic that a deal could be reached.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan urged world leaders to back the proposal.

“They need to turn their eyes to Hamas this week and say it’s time to come to the table and make this deal,” Sullivan said during an appearance at the US Global Leadership Conference in Washington.

To that end, Biden spoke Monday with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, a key Hamas interlocutor, and said this was “the best possible chance for an agreement,” the White House said.

Sullivan, meanwhile, spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Akif Cagatay Kilic, about Turkey using its influence over Hamas to get them to accept the proposal. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended Hamas and hosted the group’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, for talks in April.

Group of Seven leaders also approved the deal on Monday.

“We call on Hamas to accept this deal, which Israel is ready to move forward on, and we urge countries with influence over Hamas to ensure that Israel does so,” the G7 leaders said in a statement declaration.

Biden acknowledged last week that it would be difficult to get past the first phase of the proposal.

The first phase would last six weeks and would include a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Under the proposal, the Israelis would also allow 600 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza every day during the first phase. The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

Hamas is likely to make huge demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners and call on Israel to ensure it will not continue to target Hamas’ top leaders.

Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East peace negotiator, said that even reaching phase one – and the six-week pause in fighting – would trigger a “setback in the escalation of the military campaign, with less people would die.”

“I’m not sure they can expect much more,” said Miller, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Negotiations ultimately only work if the parties feel sufficient pain, accompanied by the prospect of profit, and that creates urgency. The only party that is in a hurry here is the Biden administration.”

In fact, Israeli officials view the conflict on a much longer timeline.

Just last week, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said he expected the war to continue another seven months, to destroy the military and governance capabilities of Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad.

But with Election Day just over five months away in the US, Biden faces mounting pressure to more quickly resolve the conflict in the Middle East that has hemorrhaged support for him.