“This is the time for Hamas to come to the negotiating table and accept the deal, it's time for this war to end.”

Joe Biden is pressing Hamas to accept the roadmap proposed by Israel to stop the conflict in Gaza and allow the release of the hostages. The US president returned to the field forcefully with a speech at the White House, addressing in particular the Palestinian Islamic faction after months of pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

The Jewish State, announced Biden, whose speech was broadcast live by the major Israeli media, "has proposed a roadmap for a ceasefire to Hamas". The proposal, he explained, consists of three phases: the first, lasting six weeks, with «a full and complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza and the release of a certain number of hostages including women, elderly people, injured people in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners." At this juncture, Palestinian civilians will be able to return to their homes and neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza, including the north, added the American president, specifying that humanitarian aid will increase.

Phase two "envisages the definitive cessation of hostilities based on the negotiations that will take place in phase one". Finally, phase three, in which "an important reconstruction plan" for the Strip will begin. The agreement, added the head of the White House, «will bring all the hostages home, make Israel safe and create a better government for Gaza without Hamas in power. The agreement lays the foundations for a political solution that offers a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians."

A clear path, in Biden's opinion, which seems to force Hamas to give an equally clear response. Netanyahu confirmed that he had authorized the negotiating team to «present a scheme to achieve the release of the hostages», but the prime minister's office specified that «the war will not end until all the objectives set have been achieved», including «the 'elimination of the militiamen and the Hamas government."

The US president's intervention came on the same day that the IDF announced for the first time, after weeks of fighting, that it had moved to the center of Rafah. The operation also concerns the "Philadelphia Corridor", the strip of land that runs along the border with Egypt in Gaza, now under Israeli control and where pressure is growing. The army's objective, the spokesperson explained, is to to eradicate Hamas structures also with special forces that are in action with "targeted" operations from the outskirts of the centre. Rafah therefore remains a strategic hub not only from a military point of view but also, in its crossing, for the entry of aid. humanitarian workers in the Palestinian enclave. Tomorrow in Cairo there could be a three-way meeting on the issue between Egypt, Israel and the United States to agree on the reopening of the crossing soon.

(Unioneonline/D)

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