Israel Official Says Biden Ceasefire Plan Allows IDF to Destroy Hamas

Amid conflicting narratives over U.S. President Joe Biden's latest push for a ceasefire in the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official has told Newsweek that the U.S. proposal aligns with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's goal of inflicting a lasting, decisive defeat against the Palestinian movement.

"Israel will not end the war before achieving all its war objectives: destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages and ensuring Gaza doesn't pose a threat to Israel in the future," the Israeli official told Newsweek on background.

"The proposal presented enables Israel to achieve these goals and Israel will indeed do so," the Israeli official said.

But the public details of the three-phase proposal, as unveiled by Biden in a May 31 speech and approved Sunday by the United Nations Security Council, did not include any mention of Hamas' defeat.

Rather, the U.S. leader's description of the road map entailed a negotiated six-week ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and a partial withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), along with a prisoner swap, to be followed by talks toward further hostage releases, a lasting ceasefire, total IDF withdrawal and, finally, a reconstruction plan for Gaza.

Hamas, which initially welcomed Biden's remarks about 1 1/2 weeks ago, has since pointed out inconsistencies in the announced deal and what they received in writing. In a six-point explanatory note shared last week with Newsweek, the group described "confusion and controversy" over the true contents of the agreement.

Contacted for comment, a Hamas spokesperson shared with Newsweek a statement saying that the group's Political Bureau Director Ismail Haniyeh and Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziyad al-Nakhalah had delivered their official responses to Biden's proposal to meditators in Qatar and Egypt.

"The response puts the priority to the interest of our Palestinian people, the necessity to completely stop the ongoing aggression on Gaza, and the withdrawal [of Israeli forces] from the entire Gaza Strip," the Hamas statement said. "The Palestinian delegation voiced willingness to deal positively in order to reach an agreement that ends this war against our people, out of the sense of national responsibility."

Israeli officials cited in U.S. and Israeli media have also previously referred to Biden's initial explanation of the agreement as "partial" and "not accurate."

The Biden administration, however, has maintained that the U.S. and Israel were in complete alignment on the proposal and that it was up to Hamas to agree to it.

Speaking to reporters on a virtual press call Tuesday, White House National Security Council Communications Adviser John Kirby asserted that what Biden had unveiled on May 31 was, in fact, "the Israeli proposal," the details of which the president had "accurately and meticulously described."

Kirby confirmed that the U.S. had received Hamas' response and that Biden administration officials "are evaluating it now." He declined to go into further details.

Newsweek has reached out to the National Security Council for further comment.

Despite the ambiguity over the agreement, a U.S.-drafted text in line with Biden's proposal scored an elusive victory on Sunday when it was passed at the U.N. Security Council. The text won the support of 14 out of 15 members, including China, with Russia opting to abstain and not exercise its veto power.

As is the case with the deal described by Biden, there was no mention in the submitted text of Hamas' destruction.

Instead, the U.N.-approved text outlined an "immediate, full, and complete ceasefire with the release of hostages including women, the elderly and the wounded, the return of the remains of some hostages who have been killed, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners," as well as the withdrawal of the IDF from "populated" areas of Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians and a surge in humanitarian aid, all in the first phase, according to the official U.N. report of the vote.

The second phase would entail a permanent ceasefire "in exchange for the release of all other hostages still in Gaza, and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."

Phase three would involve "a major multi-year reconstruction plan for Gaza" and the return of the remains of any dead hostages still in the Palestinian territory.

"In phase one, the fighting stops, the fighting stops all across the Gaza Strip. That's what phase one is all about," Kirby said during the press call Tuesday. "That's how you get the hostages out safely. That's how you get, hopefully, up to 600 trucks a day going into Gaza, with a sustainable calm that can potentially lead to phase two, which could lead to a cessation of hostilities all together."

"So, if the deal is entered into by both sides," Kirby added, "then you get a ceasefire, at least for six weeks, which means no fighting anywhere in Gaza."

The U.N. report also noted that the Security Council underlined how a ceasefire would continue as long as negotiations continue and rejected any attempt at demographic or territorial changes within Gaza.

Reaffirming an "unwavering commitment" to a two-state solution, the U.S. text was also said to have stressed "the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority," which oversees parts of the West Bank despite growing Israeli settler activity, a rise in armed Palestinian factions and a crisis in popularity that began even before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the current war.

Hamas also welcomed the text approved by the U.N. Security Council, noting particularly in a statement released Monday how the resolution "affirmed the permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal, the prisoners' exchange, the reconstruction, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of needed aid to our people in the Strip."

"Hamas emphasizes its readiness to cooperate with the mediators to engage in indirect negotiations on implementing these principles that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance," the group said.

On the ground in Gaza, violence continued in spite of the proposal and the ongoing ceasefire talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

The IDF announced on Tuesday new ground operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and in the eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij in central Gaza. New airstrikes were also claimed across Gaza, targeting various military infrastructure.

The Israeli military also announced a raid supported by helicopter fire against "terrorists" in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin.

Hamas condemned the IDF's attacks in the West Bank on Tuesday and called for Palestinians there to rise against Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades had announced a series of operations on Monday, including the targeting of IDF troops and equipment with rockets and hidden explosives.

Other Palestinian factions, including Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades, the Mujahideen Movement's Mujahideen Brigades, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's National Resistance Brigades and the Fatah-linked Abdul Qadir al-Husseini Brigades announced rocket attacks against the IDF on Tuesday.

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