Biden stresses: Hostage-ceasefire deal will bring about a ‘permanent end of the war’

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Joe Biden (center) announces that a deal has been reached for a ceasefire-hostage deal agreement between Israel and Hamas, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R), at a briefing on January 15, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)
US President Joe Biden (center) announces that a deal has been reached for a ceasefire-hostage deal agreement between Israel and Hamas, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R), at a briefing on January 15, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

US President Joe Biden says the hostage release and ceasefire deal his administration helped broker between Israel and Hamas will bring about a “permanent end of the war” in Gaza at the conclusion of its second of three phases.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long insisted that he will not agree to permanently end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been dismantled, and sought during negotiations to ensure that Israel could resume fighting after the first stage.

Laying out the phased deal, Biden says the first phase will be a “full and complete ceasefire” lasting six weeks, during which Israeli troops will withdraw from populated areas.

He does not stipulate whether this includes the Philadelphi Corridor, where Netanyahu had pledged the IDF would remain. Arabic media has reported that the IDF will gradually withdraw from the corridor during the first phase until there are no remaining troops there at the end of the six weeks.

Biden doesn’t say how many hostages will be released in the first phase but says Americans will be among the female, elderly and severely ill hostages released in the first phase. There are seven dual American-Israeli nationals still held in Gaza, including three who are believed to be alive — Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Edan Alexander.

During phase one, Palestinians will be allowed to return to their neighborhoods in all areas of Gaza and a surge of humanitarian aid will commence, Biden says.

During the first phase, Israel and Hamas will resume negotiations aimed at agreeing to terms for phase two, “which is a permanent end of the war — let me say it again, a permanent end of the war,” Biden asserts.

If those talks extend longer than the first phase’s 42 days, the ceasefire will remain in place, as long as the parties remain at the negotiating table.

Biden says he’s spoken to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt and all three have pledged that the negotiations will keep moving forward “for as long as it takes.”

During the second phase, he says, the remaining living hostages will be released and all remaining Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza — another Hamas demand that Netanyahu had publicly rejected.

In phase three, the bodies of the remaining hostages will be released and major reconstruction plans for Gaza will commence, Biden says.

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