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Declaring Hamas no longer capable of carrying out a major terrorist attack on Israel, President Biden said on Friday that it was time for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and endorsed a new plan he said Israel had offered to win the release of hostages and end the fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,\u201d Mr. Biden said, speaking from the State Dining Room at the White House. He also gave a stark description of Hamas\u2019s diminished capabilities after more than seven months of Israeli attacks, saying that \u201cat this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another Oct. 7.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is truly a decisive moment,\u201d Mr. Biden said. \u201cIsrael has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a cease-fire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that statement, Mr. Biden appeared to be revealing his true agenda: making public elements of the proposal in an effort to pressure both Hamas and Israel to break out of a monthslong deadlock that has resulted in the killing of thousands of Palestinians.<\/p>\n
American officials have described Hamas\u2019s leader, Yahya Sinwar<\/a>, as interested only in his own survival and that of his family and inner circle, as they presumably operate from tunnels deep under southern Gaza. But officials have also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has little incentive to move to a real cease-fire, because of the widespread belief in Israel that as soon as the surviving hostages are returned, and a last cease-fire begins, he will most likely lose his fragile hold on power.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden\u2019s remarks came amid growing pressure at home over the bloodshed in Gaza, which has led to eruptions on college campuses and on the streets of American cities, and alienated many of his own supporters. And he spoke a day after his political rival, former President Donald J. Trump, was convicted of 34 felony charges.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden described the three-phase Israeli plan as a \u201ccomprehensive new proposal\u201d that amounted to a road map to an \u201cenduring cease-fire.\u201d But at several moments in the past few months, Mr. Netanyahu has directly contradicted Mr. Biden. And so far Hamas has never accepted a comprehensive proposal, declaring in its public statements that fighting must end before major hostage releases or any agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n Hints of differences came almost as soon as Mr. Biden finished speaking. Following his speech, the Israeli Prime Minister\u2019s Office said the Israeli government was \u201cunited in the desire to bring home our hostages as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n But it added that Mr. Netanyahu had stipulated to Israeli negotiators that they could not reach a deal that would end the war before all their goals were achieved, including the destruction of Hamas\u2019s military and governing capacities in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cThe exact outline that Israel has offered \u2014 including the conditional progression from stage to stage \u2014 enables Israel to maintain that principle,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n Hamas reacted positively to Mr. Biden\u2019s speech in a statement on social media, saying that it was willing to deal \u201cconstructively\u201d with any cease-fire proposal based on a permanent truce, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and a \u201cserious prisoner exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the hard-liners in Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing coalition did not immediately respond to Mr. Biden\u2019s address because of the Jewish Sabbath, which began before his remarks. Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s nationalist allies, like Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a>, the national security minister, have said they could leave the government if an agreement ended the war before Hamas\u2019s complete destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cI know there are those in Israel who will not agree with this plan and will call for the war to continue indefinitely,\u201d Mr. Biden said, adding that some in Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s government have made clear they want to \u201coccupy Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to keep fighting for years, and the hostages are not a priority to them,\u201d Mr. Biden said in what appeared to be a direct message to the far-right members of Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s cabinet. \u201cI\u2019ve urged leadership of Israel to stand behind this deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Biden has faced questions over how long he was willing to support Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza, and particularly its most recent attacks in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The bloodshed in Gaza has left more than 36,000 people dead.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s national security adviser said this week that he expected the war to continue through at least the end of the year.<\/p>\n Global pressure to scale down the military operation increased after the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations, ruled last week<\/a> that Israel must halt its military offensive in Rafah. The court, however, has no means of enforcing the order.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s remarks were Mr. Biden\u2019s first public comments about the war since an Israeli strike<\/a> and subsequent fire on Sunday killed at least 45 people, including children, and wounded 249 in an encampment for the displaced, according to Gazan health officials. A visual analysis by The New York Times<\/a> found that Israel used U.S.-made bombs in the strike, forcing the White House to face difficult questions over American responsibility for rising death toll.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden said on Friday that he saw the \u201cterrible images\u201d from the deadly fire.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Palestinian people have endured sheer hell in this war,\u201d Mr. Biden said after describing the pain of those whose relatives were \u201cslaughtered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7\u201d and the \u201canguish\u201d of Israeli families waiting for hostages to be released.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden also said too many innocent people had been killed in Gaza, \u201cincluding thousands of children,\u201d and addressed the many Americans who are infuriated over the way his administration has handled the conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cI know this is a subject on which people in this country feel deep passionate convictions,\u201d Mr. Biden added. \u201cSo do I. This has been one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world. There\u2019s nothing easy about this.\u201d<\/p>\n In describing the four-and-a-half page Israeli proposal, Mr. Biden said it would be broken into three phases. The first would begin with a roughly six-week cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza and a release of elderly and female hostages held by Hamas, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees. Mr. Biden said there were still details that still needed to be negotiated to move on to the next phase \u2014 apparently including how many Palestinians would be released in return for each freed Israeli hostage.<\/p>\n In the second phase, as described by a senior administration official who briefed reporters after Mr. Biden spoke, all the remaining Israeli hostages would be released, including male soldiers. All hostilities would end, and, the official said, all Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. In the past, Mr. Netanyahu has publicly rejected a complete withdrawal, maintaining that would result in a resurgent Hamas, once again in control of the territory.<\/p>\n It is unclear, from the description given to reporters in the briefing, who would govern the territory, though in the past the United States has said that would most likely be the Palestinian Authority, which has struggled to run the West Bank.<\/p>\n In the third phase, the remains of hostages who have died would be exchanged, rubble cleared and a three- to five-year reconstruction period would begin, backed by the United States, Europe and international institutions. But that plan sounded almost aspirational, given the level of destruction and the near-famine conditions.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden, however, portrayed this road map as reasonable \u2014 if the terrorist group goes along. \u201cAs long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, a temporary cease-fire will become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, a cessation of hostilities permanently,\u201d Mr. Biden said.<\/p>\n American officials said they believed that following the meeting in Paris last weekend between William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, and David Barnea, the head of Israel\u2019s Mossad spy agency, Israel made significant concessions on the hostage talks. Those included reducing the number of live hostages they required to be released in the early phase.<\/p>\n Still, a person briefed on the matter said the negotiations were \u201con pause\u201d while Israel conducts its operation in Rafah.<\/p>\n Mr. Biden has also been involved in the hostage talks, even though he has not traveled for any of the negotiating sessions. Mr. Biden\u2019s role, officials said, has been most notable in the pressure he has put on Mr. Netanyahu to continue to negotiate and reduce Israeli demands.<\/p>\n But on Friday, Mr. Biden was clearly focusing his pressure on Hamas, arguing that taking this offer was their best shot at ending the war and moving toward a cease-fire.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody who wants peace now must raise their voices,\u201d Mr. Biden said, adding that the public should let Hamas leaders \u201cknow they should take this deal. Work to make it real, make it lasting and forge a better future out of the tragic terror attack and war.\u201d<\/p>\n Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Julian E. Barnes from Washington.<\/p>\n