President Biden said he believes a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is “still possible” before his term ends in just over five months.
Asked on “CBS News Sunday Morning” whether a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas was achievable, Biden said: “Yes, it’s still possible.”
“The plan that I put together has been endorsed by the G7, the U.N. Security Council and others, and it is still actionable,” Biden added in the interview. “And I’m working literally every day, and with my whole team, to make sure that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war, but it could easily become that.”
His remarks came days after President Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari leader Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani issued a joint statement calling on Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release agreement currently being negotiated.
“The time has come to conclude an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages and detainees,” the leaders said in a statement last Thursday. “The three of us and our teams have been working tirelessly for months to conclude a framework agreement. The agreement is now on the negotiating table, and all that remains is to finalize the implementation details.”
“We can no longer waste time and there is no excuse for any side to allow further delays,” they added. “The time has come to release the hostages, initiate a ceasefire and implement this agreement.”
The leaders also called for talks to resume in Doha or Cairo from August 15, adding that they were “ready to present a final solution resolving remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties.”
U.S. officials have been signaling for weeks that the talks are nearing the final stage, but some acknowledge that key implementation details need to be worked out.
The ceasefire and hostage release agreement would build on Biden’s May proposal to swap the most vulnerable hostages for Palestinian prisoners and implement a temporary ceasefire. It would also require Israeli forces to withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza.
Hamas is believed to still be holding around 115 hostages in the Gaza Strip, more than 10 months after fighting began in southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages. About 105 of them were released during a brief ceasefire in November.
Israel is waging a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with violence leaving more than 39,000 Palestinians dead. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes and are taking refuge in shelters, while humanitarian aid is in short supply.
