After Biden’s push for truce, Netanyahu calls Israel’s war plans unchanged
JERUSALEM — A day after President Joe Biden called on Israel and Hamas to reach a truce, declaring that it was “time for this war to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated that Israel would not agree to a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip as long as Hamas still retains governing and military power.
In his statement, Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse or reject a proposed cease-fire plan that Biden had laid out in an unusually detailed address Friday. Two Israeli officials confirmed that Biden’s proposal matched an Israeli cease-fire proposal that had been greenlit by Israel’s war Cabinet. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
ADVERTISING
But the timing of Netanyahu’s remarks, coming first thing the next morning, seemed to put the brakes on Biden’s hopes for a speedy resolution to the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement released Saturday morning.
Biden administration officials and some Israeli analysts said they believed that Israel still supported the proposal Biden described Friday, and that Netanyahu’s statement Saturday was more tailored to his domestic audience and meant to manage his far-right Cabinet members, rather than to push back against the White House. Biden is eager for the war to end, with the U.S. presidential election just five months away.
But Netanyahu’s domestic political worries could prove paramount. On Saturday night, two of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners — Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir — threatened to quit his government should he move forward with the proposal.
© 2024 The New York Times Company
