Deal revealed by Biden gives hope, say families of Israelis held in Gaza

JERUSALEM (AA) – The families of Israelis held by Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza said on Saturday that the proposal announced by President Joe Biden for a cease-fire gives them hope of finally getting their relatives back.

“Biden’s speech offers us real hope for the first time to get our sons back, but Netanyahu may also torpedo this deal,” one relative told a joint conference on Saturday in front of Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

During the conference broadcast by the Israeli broadcasting authority, another relative of a captive urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to support the proposal.

Another relative of one of the hostages said at the press conference: “There is a minority blackmailing Netanyahu and threatening the deal, and we must support the deal and not leave the arena to extremists.”

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on a meeting of families of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza calling on members of the Knesset (parliament) to “say yes” to the deal announced by Biden.

The families urged Knesset members not to miss the opportunity.

Biden said on Friday that Israel had presented Hamas with a three-phase deal that would end attacks in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s office on Friday reiterated his intention to continue the war on Gaza until all of Tel Aviv’s war goals were achieved.

Hamas said it would “respond positively to any proposal that includes a permanent cease-fire, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction efforts, the return of the displaced, and the completion of a comprehensive hostage exchange deal.”

Since last Oct. 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in which some 1,200 people died.

Israel has killed more than 36,200 Palestinians in almost eight months. Most of those killed have been women and children, with more than 82,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid Israel’s crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war.