Israel’s opposition leader urges Netanyahu to accept ceasefire proposal

Israel’s opposition leader has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to heed Joe Biden’s call for a Gaza truce under which Hamas would free hostages.

The US president on Friday said Israel was offering a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire in Gaza including the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X, Yair Lapid wrote: “The Israeli government cannot ignore President Biden’s significant speech. There is a deal on the table and it needs to be done.

“I remind Netanyahu that he has a security network from us for the hostage deal if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich leave the government.”

Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier on Saturday insisted the destruction of Hamas was part of the Israeli plan presented byBiden, to end the Gaza war.

“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” the Israeli leader said in a statement.

“Under the proposal, Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place.

“The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” Netanyahu added.

The three-stage offer laid out by Biden would begin with a six-week phase that would involve Israeli forces withdrawing from all populated areas of Gaza.

It would alsoinclude the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for [the] release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners”, Biden said.

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire – but the truce would continue while the talks remained under way, Biden said.

Hamas has said it “considers positively” the plan laid out by Biden.

The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, urged Hamas to accept the proposal.

Writing on X, he said: “With a new hostage agreement on the table, Hamas must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting, the hostages released and returned to their families and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“As we’ve long argued a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps. Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end.”

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on X: “We have witnessed too much suffering & destruction in Gaza. It’s time to stop. I welcome @POTUS Biden’s initiative & encourage all parties to seize this opportunity for a ceasefire, release of all hostages, guaranteed unhindered humanitarian access & ultimately a durable peace in the Middle East.”

The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said the Israeli offer “provides a glimpse of hope and a possible path out of the war’s deadlock”, and the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, welcomed a “balanced and realistic” approach to end the bloodshed.

Saudi Arabia stressed its “support for all efforts aimed at an immediate ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Indonesia, meanwhile, said it was ready to send “significant peacekeeping forces” as well as medical personnel to Gaza if a ceasefire was agreed.

Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on 7 October.

Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.

On Saturday, residents reported tank fire in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in west Rafah, while witnesses in the east and centre of Rafah described intense artillery shelling.

“From the early hours of the night until this morning, the aerial and artillery bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,”, a resident from west Rafah said.

“There are a number of occupation [Israeli] snipers in high-rise buildings overseeing all areas of Tal al-Sultan … making the situation very dangerous.”

There was also shelling and gunfire from the Israeli army in Gaza City, in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to an AFP reporter.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the UN said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

Since then, 1 million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has said.

The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and in effect shuttered the territory’s main exit point.

Agence-France Presse contributed to this report