On May 31, President Joe Biden outlined a comprehensive proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken described, “It was rooted in core principles of releasing all the hostages, surging assistance into Gaza, guaranteeing Israel’s security, providing a path to an enduring end to war, and starting the massive reconstruction for Gaza.”
Individual countries around the world supported the proposal, including Israel. So did groups like the G7, the Arab League, the Palestinian Authority, and the United Nations Security Council.
Secretary Blinken noted the proposal was virtually identical to the one Hamas itself put forward on May 6:
“A deal Israel has accepted, and Hamas could have answered with a single word: yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it had previously taken and accepted. As a result…the war that Hamas started on October 7th with its barbaric attack on Israeli civilians will go on. More people will suffer. More Palestinians will suffer; more Israelis will suffer.”
Secretary Blinken said that some of the changes proposed by Hamas to the current proposal are workable; some, he said, are not:
“In the days ahead, we are going to continue to push on an urgent basis — with our partners, with Qatar, with Egypt — to try to close this deal because we know it’s in the interests of Israelis, Palestinians, the region, indeed the entire world. And we all agree that the deal has to be grounded in the principles of the ceasefire proposal that the entire international community supports.”
“We’ll have to see over the coming days whether the gaps that are there as a result of Hamas not accepting with a clear and simple yes the proposal — whether they can be bridged or not,” said Secretary of State Blinken. “Ultimately Hamas has to decide. ... It’s time for the haggling to stop and a ceasefire to start. It’s as simple as that.”
