17 countries, including the United States,
have released a joint statement calling on Israel and Hamas
to do whatever is necessary to agree on a ceasefire
deal.
They also want the captives being held in Gaza to
be freed.
Let's get the reaction from the United States now.
Alan Fisher joins us from Washington.
What else did this statement have to say,
Alan?
Well, this coming from Joe Biden,
who, of course is in France for the 80th anniversary
of the D-Day commemorations.
But he's teamed up with the 16 other countries who
say they have captives currently being held in Gaza to
release this statement.
It says as leaders of the country is deeply concerned
for the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza,
including many of our own citizens,
we fully support the movement towards a ceasefire and hostage
release deal now on the table.
And as outlined by President Biden,
there is no time to lose.
We call on Hamas to close this agreement that Israel
is ready to move forward with and begin the process
of releasing our citizens now.
The statement, which is only two paragraphs long,
continues. We know that this agreement would lead to an
immediate ceasefire and rehabilitation of Gaza,
together with security assurances for Israelis and Palestinians and opportunities
for a more enduring long term peace and A2 state
solution opportunities not committing to a studies two state solution
at that point. At this decisive moment,
we call on the leaders of Israel as well as
Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close
this deal.
Now, remember, we were told that this was an Israeli
plan,
but here is a statement saying they have to make
compromises to close the deal and bring relief to the
families of their hostages as well as those on both
sides of this terrible conflict,
including the civilian population. It is time for the war
to end,
and this deal, according to this statement,
is the necessary starting point.
What's the thinking behind all of these countries coming together
in this way to issue this statement,
Alan? What are they hoping to achieve?
Well, this is clearly part of the White House's pressure
game.
Joe Biden announced this statement.
There was some speculation that he did this without fully
getting the Israelis signed on to this.
And certainly Benjamin Netanyahu has made some interesting comments,
which suggests that this may have been
a bit of a surprise to him.
And certainly he's aware that far right members of his
coalition government have threatened to collapse it if
in any way Benjamin Netanyahu signs up to this.
So that's why there's that important comment about how Israeli
leaders need to make compromises as well.
But the White House is putting pressure on Hamas.
As far as they're concerned,
they already have Israel signed up
in all but the letters on the dotted line,
and they really want to put pressure on Hamas.
This isn't terribly new because you'll remember that about a
month ago there was a peace deal that was floated
and Hamas accepted that.
We were told that all the pressure was on Hamas
to accept it by the White House.
And Hamas said, Yep, we sign up to this.
And of course, it was Israel that hadn't signed on.
So you can see it's almost like trying to force
2 bits together,
like 2 magnets, but they can't quite get them joined.
And so this is part of the White House pressure
campaign to get both sides to sign on to a
ceasefire and then look to a longer term peace deal.
All right, thank you very much with the latest from
Washington on this story,
Alan Fisher. Let's get to the
Israeli response then, because the government there is banned Al
Jazeera from reporting inside the country.
Imran Khan joins us from the Jordanian capital,
Amman. What have we heard?
Anything from the Israelis?
We haven't heard anything from the Israelis.
We're unlikely to hear anything from the Israelis anytime soon.
There's a lot of very strong language,
as my colleague Alan Fisher was just pointing out there,
particularly when it comes to the two state solution.
Remember, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly said time and
time again
over his entire career that he's very proud that he
hasn't had,
he hasn't developed negotiations for a Palestinian state.
In fact, his exact quote is,
I'm very proud there hasn't been a Palestinian state on
my watch.
So they're likely the Israelis will be likely looking at
this language and understanding this.
Yes, it's coming from a pressure campaign by the US,
but how much can they withstand that pressure?
That's probably the question they're asking themselves.
But there is reaction from others,
not directly to the statement,
but about the ceasefire talks we've been hearing from Egyptian
security sources.
Talking to the Reuters news agency.
They say the talks are ongoing but neither side is
getting anywhere close to an agreement.
They also say that the Qatari and Egyptian mediators have
met separately with Hamas and with U.S.
officials, but they can't seem to get any agreement.
There's also a statement from a senior Hamas leader,
Sami Abu Zuri, who says whilst they welcome
Biden's ideas, the US draft resolution at the UN Security
Council was dependent on an Israeli ceasefire proposal that Hamas
had already seen and rejected.
the US document has no mention of ending the aggression.
He said the Israeli documents speak of an
open-ended negotiation with no deadline,
during which the occupation regains its hostages and resumes its
war.
We've told the mediators that this paper wasn't acceptable to
us.
So significant, significant gaps in both sides.
Hamas rejecting this outright, but now saying they are wanting
to look at it,
but they want deadlines. They want clear cut deadlines.
And so far this proposal that's been discussed has been
pushed by the US doesn't have that.
Thank you very much. Imran Khan reporting to us there
from Jordan,
the capital of Jordan, Amman.
And just a reminder, that's because Benjamin
Netanyahu's cabinet has banned Al Jazeera from reporting inside Israel.