Israel continued to pull out the big guns Saturday as it relentlessly hammered Rafah in southern Gaza even as President Joe Biden outlined and endorsed what he described as Israel's path toward a ceasefire.
Hamas said it "considers positively" the steps toward peace outlined by Biden. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahy also said his nation was still bent on the utter destruction of the militant organization and will continue to pursue all of it goals in the ongoing war on Gaza.
Biden on Friday called the Israeli proposal "truly a decisive moment."
Hamas "says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it, the president added.
He said the ceasefire would allow more humanitarian aid to reach the beleaguered territory, with "600 trucks carrying aid into Gaza every single day".
In the first of the the three-stage Israeli plan outlined by Biden, Israel would withdraw its forces over a six-week period from populated areas of Gaza.
It would also seek the release of a number of "hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners."
Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire. A truce would remain in effect as long as the talks remained underway, Biden said.
The plan was quickly endorsed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron. Hamas "must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting," he posted on X.
"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," He added. "Let's bring this conflict to an end."
