Palestine defenders welcomed Israel’s roadmap for a Gaza cease-fire — which U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed on Friday — as a necessary first step but warned that the plan does not address the root causes of the war and demanded that the United States stop sending military aid to the key Middle Eastern ally.
“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” Biden told reporters in the White House State Dining Room on Friday, adding that “at this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7.”
In a three-part plan that Biden called “a road map to an enduring cease-fire,” Israel has proposed an initial six-week truce during which Israeli military forces would withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza, while Hamas would release an unspecified number of hostages. Phase two of the plan would see a permanent cessation of hostilities, followed by a blueprint for the reconstruction of the obliterated Gaza Strip.
Israel rejected a similar Hamas cease-fire proposal earlier this month. Israel’s plan has been sent to Hamas — whose political wing rules Gaza — for consideration.
“This is truly a decisive moment. Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire,” said Biden. “This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.”
The Uncommitted National Movement — which urges Americans to vote “uncommitted” to protest Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza — called the president’s embrace of a cease-fire proposal “a welcome development,” but added that the move “will likely fall flat” as long as he keeps sending military aid and weapons that enable Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes.
Earlier this month, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three leaders of Hamas for alleged war crimes including extermination.
Israel — whose forces have killed, maimed, or left missing nearly 130,000 Palestinians in Gaza — is also the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case brought by South Africa and backed by more than 30 countries and regional blocs.
“President Biden has had all the leverage to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza from day one. At every turn, he has sent more and more weapons to Israel,” the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project said Friday on social media.
“Seventeen billion dollars,” the group added. “You cannot call for peace while sending bombs that burn children sleeping in tents. Enough. Stop the weapons.”
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