Israel on Tuesday mourned four hostages confirmed dead inside war-torn Gaza as Western and West Asia powers threw their support behind a truce deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden.
Washington said it would seek a UN Security Council resolution to back the three-phase plan which was welcomed by the Group of Seven developed countries and by leading regional governments.
Under the proposal which Mr. Biden presented last Friday as Israel’s plan, fighting would stop for an initial six weeks and hostages would be swapped for Palestinian prisoners, ahead of the start of the rebuilding of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, however, stressed since that fighting would only have to cease temporarily to free the captives, and that one of Israel’s key war aims remains the destruction of Hamas.
The White House insisted on Monday that the plan was Israel’s own and not drafted by Washington to put pressure on its key ally. “It is an Israeli proposal,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. “It’s one that we, and they, worked on through some intense diplomacy.”
Hamas, the Islamist group that has long ruled the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people, said on Friday it viewed Mr. Biden’s outline “positively” but has since made no official comment.
The group has previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza in months of intermittent talks involving U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
For now, the Gaza war raged on unabated, with the Israeli military reporting more air and artillery strikes and ground combat against Hamas, and Palestinians bemoaning more civilian deaths.
‘No alternative’
Washington unveiled a draft UN Security Council resolution on Monday that “welcomes the new deal... and calls upon Hamas to accept it fully and implement its terms without delay and without condition”.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan”.
The truce plan also drew the full endorsement of the other leaders of the G-7.
Published - June 04, 2024 09:54 pm IST
