Families of Israeli hostages call for Israel to accept cease-fire proposal pushed by Biden

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - The families of Israeli hostages in Gaza said that the proposal announced by US President Joe Biden on Friday 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 of the hostages 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 “remove all obstacles and declare support for the Israeli proposal revealed by the US president.”

The hostages’ families called on all Israelis to come out on the streets on Saturday and take part in protests demanding an immediate deal.

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."

Similarly, 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 Netanyahu's deal,” referring to the deal announced by Biden.

The families urged Knesset members not to miss the opportunity to bring back the hostages.

The daily indicated that the families of the hostages held in Gaza would demand, during expected protests across the country this weekend, that Knesset members and ministers in Netanyahu's government approve the deal.

Biden said on Friday that Israel presented the Palestinian resistance group Hamas with a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in the besieged Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.

Biden appealed to Hamas to accept the deal and urged Netanyahu to resist pressure from members of his governing coalition opposed to the plan.

Netanyahu's office on Friday reiterated his intention to continue the country's offensive in the Gaza Strip until all of Tel Aviv's war goals are 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 which killed some 1,200 people.

Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught nearly eight months ago. 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 lay 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.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​