Rishi Sunak has called the latest proposed hostage deal “very welcome news” and has urged Hamas to accept its terms.
Speaking today while on his election campaign trail, the UK Prime Minister said: “I hope Hamas take this opportunity to conclude the deal that’s on the table, which would ensure that the hostages can be released and be back with their families, that we can flood Gaza with far more aid than has been getting in to alleviate the suffering that people have been experiencing and then use that pause in the fighting to build a sustainable and long-lasting peace, which is what we all want to see.”
His comments came a day after Biden announced a three-phase plan for an “enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages”.
Saying that Hamas was “no longer capable” of carrying out an attack on the scale seen on October 7, Biden said that the first stage, which is expected to last six weeks, would entail a “full and complete ceasefire”, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all heavily populated regions in Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded. American hostages would be freed at this stage, and bodies of hostages who had been killed would be returned to Israel.
President Biden sets out the three-phase ceasefire deal, which would secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza (Photo: Getty Images)
In exchange, the first phase would see hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being released and 600 aid trucks entering Gaza every day.
Biden said that the first phase could begin as soon as a deal was reached and would include talks between Israel and Hamas to reach the next stage of the proposal.
The second phase would see the release of all remaining surviving hostages, including male soldiers and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It would, said Biden, mark “a permanent end to hostilities”.
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas (Photo: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
The third phase proposes major reconstruction of Gaza, which is expected to take decades, and “any final remains of hostages who have been killed would be returned to their families”, said Biden.
Arab nations and the international community would help rebuild Gaza in a “manner that does not allow Hamas to rearm”, he added.
Biden said that the responsibility now lay with Hamas to “live up to its commitments” so “the temporary cease-fire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently,’”.
Coming under increasing pressure to resolve the conflict in the run-up to the presidential elections, Biden said: “It’s time to begin this new stage, for the hostages to come home, for Israel to be secure, for the suffering to stop. It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin.”
UK Foreign secretary David Cameron has given his backing to the latest deal proposed by Israel to Hamas (Photo: Getty Images)
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron echoed Sunak’s comments. Posting on X/Twitter, he wrote: “With a new hostage agreement on the table, Hamas must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting, the hostages released and returned to their families and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
“As we’ve long argued, a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps. Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end.”
The proposed deal was put forward following lengthy talks between negotiators from America, Israel, Qatar, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries and was transmitted by Qatar to Hamas.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorised his negotiating team to present the deal but insisted that the war would not end “until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities”.
According to a BBC report, a senior Hamas figure said it "will go for this deal" if Israel does.
