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Netanyahu doubles down on crushing Hamas; IDF tells 4 hostage families loved ones are dead

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Netanyahu doubles down on crushing Hamas; IDF tells 4 hostage families loved ones are dead

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Hamas and Israel’s opposition leader both expressed support Monday for a cease-fire deal that President Joe Biden said was proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as Netanyahu disputed Biden’s version of the plan.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Monday that Hamas views Netanyahu’s proposal, unveiled by Biden last week, “positively,” according to a translation by the Times of Israel. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, in a briefing Monday, said the U.S. is awaiting an official Hamas response on the proposal the militant group received Thursday.

In Israel, Netanyahu political rival Yair Lapid urged the government to approve the deal and promised to provide a “political safety net” if the prime minister’s far-right partners follow up on threats and pull out of the fragile ruling coalition. “The Israeli government should agree to Netanyahu’s proposal and send a delegation to Cairo today to finalize the final details and bring home the (hostages),” Lapid said.

The U.S. is urging the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution supporting the plan, which would require at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes, Reuters reported.

Biden said Netanyahu had offered a three-phase plan that included the return of all hostages and Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza by the end of phase two. But on a day when the Israeli military said four more hostages have been confirmed dead, Netanyahu called Biden’s description of the proposal “incomplete,” saying Israel maintains “the aims of the war, primarily the elimination of Hamas.”

Biden says Israel has offered a plan: 6-week Gaza cease-fire and hostage release

Developments:

∎ The date for Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress has not been set yet, but it won’t be June 13 as was reported Monday because it coincides with a Jewish holiday, his office said in a statement.

∎ More than half of all structures in Gaza appear to have been destroyed or damaged since war began Oct. 7, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the U.N.

∎ Hundreds marched for peace through the center of Jerusalem in a display of cross-religious solidarity. Organizers say the march was meant to counter Jerusalem Day’s nationalist Flag March, planned for Wednesday.

∎ Pret a Manger, a British chain of sandwich and coffee shops, said travel restrictions on its staff because of the war have forced it to scrap plans to expand into Israel.

Netanyahu on Gaza cease-fire: Says Hamas must be destroyed

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the proposed deal as an “offer of surrender” he and his Religious Zionist Party would not support. He blamed the Israeli War Cabinet for the offer and said they continue to “humiliate Israel.”

Right-wing Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused Netanyahu of “whitewashing” the proposed cease-fire deal and threatened to pull his political party out of the ruling coalition if it is approved. Ben-Gvir said his repeated efforts to view details of the deal have been rejected by Netanyahu’s office.

“The details of the deal, as presented by President Biden, show that it is a deal that means the surrender of Israel and the end of the war without achieving the main goal of destroying Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement. “If you sign an indiscriminate deal that will bring an end to the war without the collapse of Hamas, Otzma Yehudit (Ben-Gvir’s party) will dissolve the government.”

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that it told the families of four men kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attacks that they’re dead and their bodies are being held by Hamas.

The IDF said it confirmed through its sources that Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell had perished, adding, “The circumstances of their death in Hamas captivity are still under examination by all the relevant professionals.”

Israel has said Hamas and its allied militant groups are holding more than 130 hostages in Gaza, but it’s not known how many of them are alive.

About a million Palestinians, the estimated number who had been sheltering in Rafah to escape the war in other parts of Gaza, are being displaced again as Israel pushes its offensive to the southern border city in pursuit of Hamas, the United Nations said Monday.

UNRWA, the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian aid, said it has been providing essential services to thousands of fleeing families in damaged facilities in the city of Khan Younis, north of Rafah. “Conditions are unspeakable,” UNRWA said.

The IDF has been directing civilians in Rafah toward an “expanded humanitarian zone” about 12 miles away, but the refugees say there’s nowhere safe from Israeli attacks.

On May 26, an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah set off a fire, killing 45 people and sparking international outrage. Netanyahu later referred to the incident as a “tragic mishap.” The U.S. for months has been trying to dissuade Israel from taking its attack into Rafah, with no success.

U.S., Egyptian and Israeli officials have been conducting meetings aimed at reopening the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but that won’t happen until Israel returns control to Palestinians on the Gaza side, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Monday. Last month, Israel seized Gaza’s entire border with Egypt including the crossing during its offensive against Hamas in Rafah. The crossing was the primary access point for the flow of humanitarian aid as well as a lifeline to the outside world for more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Israeli-besieged territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israeli forces are working to destroy tunnels between Gaza and Egypt used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and to escape the war. Egypt denies such tunnels exist.

A coalition of more than two dozen U.N. human rights experts on Monday urged all nations to recognize the State of Palestine and use all available political and diplomatic resources to forge an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The call came less than a week after Spain, Ireland and Norway joined more than 140 nations in officially recognizing a Palestinian state. Israel has repeatedly condemned such action, saying it strengthens Hamas. The U.S. has sided with Israel, saying a solution must be negotiated.

“This recognition is an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggles and suffering toward freedom and independence,” the U.N. experts said in a statement.

Maldives announced plans to ban Israeli passport holders from entering the Indian Ocean island nation, known for being a luxury travel destination, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Mohamed Muizzu, president of the predominantly Muslim country, previously condemned Israel over a recent strike on Rafah in southern Gaza that led to the death of 45 Palestinians who had sought refuge in an Israeli-established, temporary refugee camp.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post that it is advising Israeli citizens to avoid traveling to Maldives, and for any Israeli citizens currently in the country to leave, “since if they fall into distress for any reason, it will be difficult for us to help.”

− Savannah Kuchar

Maldives to ban Israelis from entering country as protest over Gaza war

Biden said last week that Netanyahu had proposed the three-phase deal. The first phase would last six weeks and include “complete cease-fire and withdrawal” of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza. It would also include the release of some hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Phase 2 would include the release of all remaining living hostages, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the “cessation of hostilities permanently.” Phase 3 would include a major reconstruction plan for Gaza, and the bodies of any of other hostages killed in captivity would be returned to their families.

Netanyahu, who’s under intense political pressure at home, has questioned Biden’s description of the proposed plan. According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu said there are gaps between Biden’s version and Israel’s position.

Kirby pushed back against that Monday. ”I know of no gaps to speak of,” he told reporters. “We’re confident that it accurately reflects that proposal − a proposal that we worked with the Israelis on.”

Contributing: Francesca Chamers and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY; Reuters

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