The Gaza war must end now and Israel must not occupy Gaza

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the war between Israel and Gaza must end now and that Israel must not occupy the enclave after the war. He told reporters that while Israel and Hamas had agreed on his framework for a ceasefire, there were still gaps to be filled.

“Both Israel and Hamas have now joined this framework. That’s why I’ve sent my team to the region to work out the details,” Biden said at a press conference.

At the end of May, Biden presented a three-stage proposal aimed at a ceasefire, the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the reconstruction of the coastal enclave.

CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in the Middle East this week, meeting with their counterparts from the region to discuss the ceasefire agreement.

“These are difficult, complex issues. There are still gaps that need to be closed. We are making progress. The trend is positive. I am committed to completing this agreement and ending this war that should end now,” Biden said at the press conference.

The Palestinian Islamic group Hamas has accepted a key part of a US plan, dropping the demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that the agreement should not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war aims are achieved. At the beginning of the war, he promised to destroy Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday that he was determined to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, provided Israel’s red lines were respected.

Biden told reporters on Thursday that Israel should not occupy Gaza, but also criticized Israel’s war cabinet, saying “Israel has not been particularly cooperative at times.”

Biden also expressed disappointment that some of his moves in Gaza had not been successful. He cited the planned closure of the US military’s humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza as an example. “I had hoped that would be more successful,” he said.

The Biden administration is facing international criticism for continuing to support Israel despite rising civilian casualties.

In the United States, a key ally of Israel, there have been months of protests across the country against the war and US support for Israel.

A dozen US government officials have resigned because they oppose Biden’s Gaza policy. Human rights activists also note that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in the US during the war.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when fighters from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s attack on the coastal enclave since then. The attack led to the displacement of almost the entire population of 2.3 million, triggered a famine and led to accusations of genocide, which Israel denies.

(Reuters)