Originally Published: 31 MAY 24 10:48 ET
Updated: 31 MAY 24 15:20 ET
By Kevin Liptak, Nikki Carvajal and Samantha Waldenberg, CNN
(CNN) — President Joe Biden asserted Friday that Hamas has been degraded to a point where it can no longer carry out the type of attack that launched the current 8-month conflict in Gaza, laying out a three-phase proposal Israel has submitted to wind down the grinding crisis as he declared, “It’s time for this war to end.
It was perhaps the furthest Biden has gone in telling Israel its stated goals for its operation in Gaza have been met, and that the time has arrived to stop the fighting as part of a hostage deal.
“At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7, just one of Israel’s main objectives in this war, and quite frankly a righteous one,” Biden said at the White House.
He had just laid out a three-phase Israeli proposal that would pair a release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire,” a plan he said presented the best hope to bring peace to Gaza.
“This is truly a decisive moment,” he said.
Biden said the Israeli proposal was transmitted this week. The first phase would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and “release of a number of hostages including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”
He said Phase 2 would allow for the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.”
“And as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary ceasefire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposals, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently,’” Biden said.
In Phase 3, the president said, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families.”
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on securing the hostages’ release were paused three weeks ago without a deal after the sides could not come to an agreement on some of the terms.
On Thursday, Hamas said it had informed mediators that it is “prepared to reach a comprehensive agreement” that includes a full hostage and prisoner exchange deal if Israel stops its war in Gaza.
A statement from the group said while it had shown “flexibility and positivity in dealing with the efforts of the mediators throughout all previous rounds of indirect negotiations.” Israel, Hamas said, had used the months of ongoing talks as a cover to continue its war in Gaza.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not accept being part of this policy of continuous negotiations in the face of aggression, killing, siege, starvation, and genocide of our people,” the Hamas statement said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that the war must continue until Hamas is completely destroyed.
In his speech from the White House, Biden acknowledged internal divisions inside Israel that could prevent a hostage deal from being agreed it.
“I know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan. And will call for the war to continue indefinitely. Some, some are even in the government coalition,” he said, an unsubtle reference to hardliners in Netanyahu’s government who have resisted efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.
“They made it clear they want to occupy Gaza. They want to keep fighting for years and the hostages are not a priority to them,” Biden said.
Though he did not name anyone in his speech, Biden has previously singled out National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as among those in Netanyahu’s governing coalition who are making any progress difficult.
In his speech, Biden made a direct appeal to ordinary Israelis to voice their support for a hostage agreement that would result in a ceasefire.
“I need your help. Everyone who wants peace now must raise their voices and let the leaders know they should take this deal. Work to make it real, make it lasting, and forge a better future out of the tragic terror attack and war,” he said. “It’s time to begin this new stage. The hostages to come home for Israel to be secure in a suffering to stop.”
Biden spoke directly to Americans as well who have criticized the violence in Gaza, admitting that too many civilians had been killed and calling the situation “one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world.”
“We all saw the terrible images from a deadly fire in Rafah earlier this week following an Israeli strike … targeting Hamas,” Biden said, in his first comments since a strike left dozens of civilians dead. “Even as we worked to surge assistance to Gaza … the humanitarian crisis still remains.”
The president, who returned to the White House from his beach home in Delaware earlier in the morning, had avoided commenting on the situation in Israel for several days.
Earlier on Friday, Israel said its forces have entered central Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that Biden has warned should not be the target of a major ground offensive.
The White House called images from the disaster “heartbreaking” but said the incident had not crossed Biden’s red line for withholding some US weapons shipments to Israel.
The president told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview this month that he would limit some US arms to Israel if the country’s military “go into Rafah.”
But he has remained vague about how he will quantify such a decision, leading to frustrations and a degree of confusion over his stance. Many Democrats, along with foreign leaders who the US counts as allies, say Israel’s actions clearly cross a red line – if not Biden’s, then their own and those of international law.
White House officials have sought this week to explain Biden’s stance, suggesting his barometer for changing policy would be a “major ground invasion” of the city.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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Joe Biden
**This image is for use with this specific article only** President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the verdict in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial and on the Middle East, from the State Dining Room of the White House on May 31.
Evan Vucci/AP via CNN Newsource
31 May 24
