President Biden
"in a surprise announcement this evening President Biden set out a peace proposal and ceasefire offer from Israel that he said could end the war in Gaza Mr Biden urged both Hamas and Israel's leaders to accept the deal saying that those in Israel who wanted indefinite war must change their minds he outlined a three-phase proposal that will begin with an immediate six week ceasefire at the same time Israeli forces would carry out a withdrawal from Gaza Israeli hostages in
Gaza would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and 600 trucks of humanitarian Aid would be delivered there every day in the second phase Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent end to hostilities the Final Phase would include a major reconstruction operation in Gaza with international support I know there are those in Israel who will not agree
with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely some 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 well I've urged the leadership of Israel to stand behind this deal despite whatever pressure comes well let's speak now to Tom baitman who's in Washington for us Tom you're a former Middle East correspondent you know the region
well how significant is this proposal this is a significant intervention tonight Rita by the US president and one designed I think to finally draw a line and try to bring this war to a close now at the heart of the announcement there was one very significant expression phrase uh by Joe Biden and that was about a permanent end to hostilities he called it a
permanent cessation in the second phase negotiated in the first but after 6 weeks uh a permanent Sensation that means an end to this war and the critical point there is that had been The crucial demand of Hamas all the way through and one uh senior Administration official uh telling me tonight that this text gets uh Hamas extremely close to what it had
had already agreed to in previous talks that later uh fell apart so I think this is meant uh designed to be seen as a major concession by the Israelis to try and get a deal uh back on the table and then over the line but what about those crucial sticking points well tonight Hamas have said that they view what Mr Biden has said here positively but one senior
Palestinian official familiar with the text has told the BBC they don't see that guarantee to an end of hostilities in there but also President Biden putting pressure on both sides to try and take this not just sticks but carrots too an incentive given to prime minister Netanyahu tonight a joint address to both houses of Congress and a Letter of Invitation has been
put to him tonight that's how far Mr Biden wants to go to get this deal over the line and the war ended"
in a surprise announcement this evening President Biden set out a peace proposal and ceasefire offer from Israel that he
said could end the war in Gaza Mr Biden urged both Hamas and Israel's leaders to accept the deal saying that those in Israel who wanted indefinite war must change their minds he outlined a three-phase proposal that will begin with an immediate six week ceasefire at the same time Israeli forces would carry out a withdrawal from Gaza Israeli hostages in
Gaza would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and 600 trucks of humanitarian Aid would be delivered there every day in the second phase Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent end to hostilities the Final Phase would include a major reconstruction operation in Gaza with international support I know there are those in Israel who will not agree
with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely some 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 well I've urged the leadership of Israel to stand behind this deal despite whatever pressure comes well let's speak
now to Tom baitman who's in Washington for us Tom you're a former Middle East correspondent you know the region well how significant is this proposal this is a significant intervention tonight Rita by the US president and one designed I think to finally draw a line and try to bring this war to a close now at the heart of the announcement there was one very
significant expression phrase uh by Joe Biden and that was about a permanent end to hostilities he called it a permanent cessation in the second phase negotiated in the first but after 6 weeks uh a permanent Sensation that means an end to this war and the critical point there is that had been The crucial demand of Hamas all the way through and one uh senior Administration official uh telling me tonight that this text gets uh Hamas extremely close to what it had
had already agreed to in previous talks that later uh fell apart so I think this is meant uh designed to be seen as a major concession by the Israelis to try and get a deal uh back on the table and then over the line but what about those crucial sticking points well tonight Hamas have said that they view what Mr Biden has said here positively but one senior
Palestinian official familiar with the text has told the BBC they don't see that guarantee to an end of hostilities in there but also President Biden putting pressure on both sides to try and take this not just sticks but carrots too an incentive given to prime minister Netanyahu tonight a joint address to both houses of Congress and a Letter of Invitation has been put to him tonight that's how far Mr Biden wants to go to get this deal over the line and the war ended"