\u2018A lot of details to be worked out\u2019; stating that position regarding release of Israeli hostages remains \u2018unchanged\u2019
\nJERUSALEM
\nAn aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by US President Joe Biden, though he described it as flawed and in need of much more work.
\nIn an interview with Britain\u2019s Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, said Biden\u2019s proposal was \u201ca deal we agreed to\u2013it\u2019s not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them\u201d.
\n\u201cThere are a lot of details to be worked out,\u201d he said, adding that Israeli conditions, including \u201cthe release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organisation\u201d have not changed.
\nBiden, whose initial lockstep support for Israel\u2019s horrific offensive has given way to open censure of the operation\u2019s high civilian death toll, on Friday aired what he described as a three-phase plan submitted by the Netanyahu government to end the war.
\nThe first phase entails a truce and the return of some hostages held by Hamas, after which the sides would negotiate on an open-ended cessation of hostilities for a second phase in which remaining live captives would go free, Biden said.
\nThat sequencing appears to imply that the Hamas resistance group would continue to play a role in incremental arrangements mediated by Egypt and Qatar\u2013a potential clash with Israel\u2019s determination to resume the campaign to eliminate the Hamas freedom fighters.
\nBiden has hailed several ceasefire proposals over the past several months, each with similar frameworks to the one he outlined on Friday, all of which collapsed. In February he said Israel had agreed to halt fighting by Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began on March 10. No such truce materialised.
\nThe primary sticking point has been Israel\u2019s insistence that it would discuss only temporary pauses to fighting until Hamas is destroyed. Hamas, which shows no sign of stepping aside, says it will free hostages only under a path to a permanent end to the war.
\nIn his speech, Biden said his latest proposal \u201ccreates a better \u2018day after\u2019 in Gaza without Hamas in power\u201d. He did not elaborate on how this would be achieved, and acknowledged that \u201cthere are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two\u201d.
\nFalk reiterated Netanyahu\u2019s position that \u201cthere will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met\u201d.
\nNetanyahu is under pressure to keep his coalition government intact. Two far-right partners have threatened to bolt in protest at any deal they deem to spare Hamas. A centrist partner, ex-general Benny Gantz, wants the deal considered.
\nThe resistance group has provisionally welcomed the Biden initiative.
\n\u201cBiden\u2019s speech included positive ideas, but we want this to materialise within the framework of a comprehensive agreement that meets our demands,\u201d senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
\nHamas wants a guaranteed end to the Gaza offensive, withdrawal of all invading forces, free movement for Palestinians and reconstruction aid.
\nIsraeli officials have rejected that as an effective return to the situation in place before October 7, when Hamas, committed to Israel\u2019s destruction, ruled Gaza. Its fighters precipitated the war by storming across the border fence into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
\nIn the ensuing Israeli assault that has laid waste to much of the impoverished and besieged coastal enclave, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza medical officials say. Israel says 290 of its troops have died in the fighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018A lot of details to be worked out\u2019; stating that position regarding release of Israeli hostages remains \u2018unchanged\u2019 JERUSALEM An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that Israel had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by US President Joe Biden, though he described it as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-410449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n