Israeli official says Biden’s description of Israeli truce deal offer ‘not accurate’

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

US President Joe Biden announces a proposed truce-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza at the White House's State Dining Room in Washington, DC, May 31, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP)
US President Joe Biden announces a proposed truce-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza at the White House's State Dining Room in Washington, DC, May 31, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP)

A senior Israeli official calls into question US President Joe Biden’s characterization of the terms of a hostage deal he laid out on Friday night as an Israeli proposal, stressing to NBC News that Israel never agreed to fully withdraw its forces from Gaza as part of any agreement.

Biden’s description was “not accurate,” says the unnamed official.

The official says what Biden described wasn’t an Israeli proposal but rather one originating with the mediating countries, to which Israel made amendments.

“It’s strange that they say it’s an Israeli proposal and at the same time that Israel needs to agree to it,” muses the official.

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