Neither Israel Nor Hamas has signed Biden’s plan of Ceasefire yet
As it was reported earlier, last week, Joe Biden introduced the major plan from the White House to stop the current war in Gaza. However, four days later, there is no signed Israel or Hamas adhering to the stated plan.
The situation is more embarrassing for the Biden administration, which has labelled the plan as an Israeli initiative. This curtails delayed part from Israel’s side with the following framing:
Biden’s plan is structured in three phases:
1. Ceasefire and Withdrawal: The first stage focuses on the ceasefire period of six weeks and the Israeli forces’ pullout of populated areas in Gaza. The same period saw Hamas pull off operations to free hostages, with the latter including women, the elderly and the injured in exchange for Palestinian prisoners by the hundreds. Also, American people and the bodies of other hostages, if any, would be freed, and Palestinians would be permitted to go to any part of the Gaza Strip.
2. Further Exchanges and Negotiations: The second stage involves the only freedom of other living human captives, which are male soldiers, and the remaining Israeli forces pull out of Gaza. Israel and Hamas would then work out an end to combat through negotiation; the interim ceasefire would only end when the talks are on.
3. Reconstruction and Governance: The last part is dedicated to the post-war rebuilding of Gaza and its administration.
This new plan is strikingly similar to a plan mediated by the CIA to Hamas, which the organisation claimed was received in the early part of May. Israel dismissed it by invading Rafah. Since the US officials have been so freezing, the proposal has been an initiative of Israel, but their response is relatively passive.
Mr John Kirby’, the White House spokesperson, reassured that it had met all the proposals made by Israel. “We stand for the fact that this description [by Biden] truly depicts that [Israeli] proposal – a proposal we discussed with the Israelis,” Kirby said.
However, scepticism remains. Egypt, together with Qatar, has been playing a mediator role between Hamas and Israel. Qatar’s foreign ministry branded the ceasefire proposal as “the US’s Gaza plan”, and sum suggested that the plan might not necessarily receive the full support of Israel.
The response has been mixed in Israel, with some people supporting the decision and others opposing it. The plan has caused two ministers extreme concern, and they refused to hold their positions should the plan be implemented. Two of them are National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Still, Prime Minister Netanyahu has to agree with Biden that the latter hid some aspects of the proposal.
Hamas has been relatively optimistic but wants a definite guarantee from Israel. That is why we appealed to the mediators to receive a precise clarification of the Israeli position to guarantee a long-term ceasefire and a full-scale withdrawal from Gaza, the Hamas official Osama Hamdan said.
Still, four days after Biden’s important statement, the plan is obscure, and both Israel and Hamas did not state their adherence to it. The Biden administration has responded positively to the proposed peace framework, but it is now challenging to get the two sides to endorse it definitively.
