TEHRAN- Hamas has said it views “positively” the content of U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech and is ready to deal with any ceasefire proposal in a “constructive manner”.

The Palestinian movement in Gaza, which has been leading negotiations to end the indiscriminate Israeli air and ground assault, put out a statement a day after Biden outlined what he termed as an “Israeli” proposal. 

The Hamas statement affirmed a positive view on Biden’s speech, which called for a permanent ceasefire, and included other conditions that the Palestinian movement had demanded in previous rounds of negotiations, expressing a readiness to deal “constructively” with any proposal that guarantees them. 

Hamas says it stands ready to accept any deal that offers the following:
-  A permanent ceasefire

- Complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza

-  Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip

-  A return of displaced Palestinians to their place of residence

-  A serious exchange of prisoners and captives 

Hamas emphasized the Israeli occupation must show its “explicit commitment to this”. 

The statement pointed out that the growing calls for a ceasefire and “the necessity of putting an end to the war on Gaza” are the result of the “legendary steadfastness of our struggling people and their valiant resistance.”

What Biden said

On Friday night, the U.S. president announced the initiative, which appears to have been built on a previous one that Hamas accepted on May 6, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government ultimately rejected it. 

The proposal is in three phases, with the first being a ceasefire lasting six weeks – during which Hamas and the Israeli occupation would negotiate a permanent end to the war on Gaza. 

If the negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire would continue for as long as it takes to reach phase two “which is a permanent end to hostilities”.

The first phase also includes “a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza”, the release of captives such as women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to Biden.  

“Phase two would involve Hamas handing over the remaining 100 hostages and Israel withdrawing all of its forces from Gaza,” the U.S. president said. 

Biden acknowledged moving from phase one to phase two would be difficult, saying guarantors “the United States, Egypt, and Qatar would work to ensure negotiations keep going until all the agreements are reached and phase two is able to begin”. 

Phase two “would be an exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers; Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza”. 

The stumbling block before has been going from phase one to phase two. 

Hamas has made clear to the Egyptians and Qataris that it would not release male Israeli soldiers held in Gaza in the second phase if there are no genuine guarantees that the Israeli onslaught of Gazan civilians would end once and for all in the first phase. 

Biden also acknowledged that “there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely. Some are even in the government coalition. And they’ve made it clear: They want to occupy Gaza, they want to keep fighting for years, and the hostages are not a priority to them”. 

Biden noted this would make Tel Aviv isolated on the world stage. 

The third phase is a major reconstruction plan for Gaza alongside any final remains of Israeli captives who have been killed. 

Will this deal end the war?  

Biden’s remarks led many to speculate on who has proposed this initiative. 

The U.S. president at times alluded to the deal as something “Israel has offered”. 

But at other points of his speech, he called on those in Israel to accept the proposal, possibly alluding to Netanyahu himself or his security minister Itamar ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. Both of whom have threatened to topple the government if Netanyahu ends the war. 

That has led some news outlets to speculate if Biden made contact with Israeli leaders opposed to Netanyahu (such as Benny Gantz who recently declared he was stepping down from the war cabinet) and bypassed the Israeli premier. 

Biden is a self-proclaimed “proud Zionist”, something he regularly sought to make clear during his speech. 

He is facing a major domestic problem with university students leading a growing anti-war movement ahead of the November presidential elections. 

The U.S. president may have also received intelligence that the Israeli military has failed in Gaza amid an eight-month campaign that has killed and injured tens of thousands of women and children. 

“Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of ‘total victory’ … will only bog down Israel in Gaza, draining the economic, military and human resources, and furthering Israel’s isolation in the world,” Biden said. 

“That will not bring hostages home. That will not bring an enduring defeat of Hamas,” he added. 

The U.S. may have lost patience with Netanyahu, which experts say makes it difficult to see how the Israelis would accept the latest ceasefire proposal. 

“If Hamas comes to negotiate ready to deal, then Israel negotiations must be given a mandate, the necessary flexibility to close that deal,” Biden pointed out.
 
Netanyahu’s office said the war would not end until all goals – including the “elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities” – are achieved.

The Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu to take the ceasefire. 

The ball is and always has been in the Israeli court, not Hamas. 

The other major issue among Palestinians would be if the U.S. can be trusted. Washington has allowed multiple war crimes to take place in Gaza with American-made bombs.