Biden description of Israel cease-fire offer ‘not accurate,’ Israeli official says
President Joe Biden’s description of Israel’s cease-fire proposal was “not accurate,” an Israeli official told NBC News, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the speech.
JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s description of Israel’s cease-fire proposal was “not accurate,” a senior Israeli official has told NBC News, as doubts grew Monday over the U.S. ally's stance on the deal.
Biden said in a surprise announcement Friday that he was outlining a truce proposal that had been made by Israel and passed by mediators to Hamas.
But the official called into question Biden’s description of the cease-fire offer as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — facing competing pressures from Washington and hostage families on one side and right-wing ministers threatening to bring down his government on the other — said that Biden had put forward only a partial version of the Israeli proposal.
The official specifically disputed that Israel had agreed to fully withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip as part of a deal to free the 125 or so hostages remaining in captivity there.
“Israel has not changed its conditions to reach a permanent cease-fire. That will only happen after our objectives are met including destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities,” the official said.
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