Biden predicted the plan would be unacceptable to some members of the Israeli government, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, said Monday.
“And, of course, we've seen some members of the Israeli government already come out and oppose it,” Miller said. But he said the proposal was “in the interests of Israel's long-term security. It is obviously also in the long-term interest of the Palestinian people.”
Miller said that since Biden announced the plan on Friday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has spoken with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He had also spoken with Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, and with the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
“We are completely confident” that Israel supports the ceasefire plan, Miller said, adding that it was presented last week to Hamas, which has yet to formally respond.
Hamas said it “considers positively” the proposal as described by Biden on Friday. He has not said whether he will accept the deal. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, told an Egyptian news outlet on Sunday that “the ball” was now “in Israel's court.”
Netanyahu insisted that the proposed ceasefire would allow Israel to continue fighting Hamas until all of its war objectives are achieved, including the destruction of the group's military and governance capabilities, which led to the attacks fatalities of October 7 in southern Israel.
Two Israeli officials confirmed that the offer shared by Biden was generally in line with the most recent ceasefire proposal Israel had presented in talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
While the world's attention is focused on the growing death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in Israel the focus is on the safety and release of the hostages, many of them civilians, captured on October 7 and taken to Gaza .