Netanyahu aide: Israel accepts Biden's Gaza plan
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STORY: Thousands of people expressed their support for Israel Sunday in New York.. .while thousands of others backed the Palestinians in Karachi. In Israel, An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that it had accepted a framework deal for winding down the Gaza war now being advanced by U.S. President Joe Biden. In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times Netanyahu’s chief foreign policy advisor Ophir Falk said Biden's proposal was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them." :: May 31, 2024 :: May 8, 2024 Biden said the first phase entails a truce and the return of some hostages held by Hamas, after which the sides would negotiate on an open-ended cessation of hostilities for a second phase in which remaining live captives would go free. Israel's defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that Israel would not accept Hamas continuing to rule Gaza at any stage during the process to wind down the war, and that it was examining alternatives to the Islamist group. :: File Hamas has provisionally welcomed the Biden initiative, though a senior official from the group, Sami Abu Zuhri, said on Sunday that "Hamas is too big to be bypassed or sidelined by Netanyahu or Biden." White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC News Sunday that if Hamas agrees to the deal to end the Gaza war, the U.S. expects Israel to also accept the plan. :: October 7, 2023 The war began October 7th when Hamas fighters stormed across the border fence into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. :: May 8, 2024 In the ensuing Israeli assault that has laid waste to much of the impoverished and besieged coastal enclave, more than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza medical officials say. Israel says 290 of its troops have died in the fighting.
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