17 countries call on Israel, Hamas to come to an agreement on a recent ceasefire and hostages proposal

The brutal Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on October 7 as Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israeli cities, killing some 1,200 people and taking several others hostages. Israel’s retaliatory strikes, on the other hand, have already claimed over 36,650 lives.

On Thursday, leaders of 17 countries urged Israel and Hamas to come to an agreement on the most recent ceasefire and hostages proposal. These 17 countries have citizens the militant group took captive in the beginning of the brutal Gaza crisis.

This came in a joint statement signed by the leaders of the US, the UK, Thailand, Spain, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, Poland, Germany, France, Denmark, Colombia, Canada, Bulgaria, Brazil, Austria and Argentina, reported CNN.

Is Israeli proposal “the necessary starting point”?

The statement marks the latest move in the Biden administration’s push to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict. It also points to the Israeli proposal that the US President publicly outlined in a speech on Friday as “the necessary starting point”.

Biden asserted on Friday that Hamas has been degraded to a point it can no longer carry out an October 7-like attack again. It is perhaps the furthest the politician has gone in telling Israel its stated goals for its operation in the Gaza Strip have been met.

The US leader had just laid out a three-phase Israeli proposal, a plan he said presented the best hope to bring peace to Gaza. The first phase includes the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and “release of a number of hostages …”

Hamas says it viewed the proposal positively

Biden said the Phase 2 of the Israeli proposal can facilitate the “exchange for the release of all remaining hostages, including male soldiers.” The third phase involves a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza” and the return of any final remains of hostages killed to their families.

But less than an hour after Joe Biden detailed the Israeli proposal in the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that his country is not ready to end the ongoing fighting until Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities are eliminated.

Later on Friday, Hamas released a statement saying it viewed the proposal positively. “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas views positively what was included in US President Joe Biden’s speech today,” the statement read.