US expects Israel to stick to hostage proposal it made if Hamas agrees

The US expects Israel to stick to the hostage deal proposal it made last week and greenlight it if Hamas gives its approval as well, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says.

“We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal — as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal — that Israel would say ‘Yes,'” Kirby says in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week.”

While Israeli officials have confirmed that the offer publicly laid out by US President Joe Biden on Friday is in fact the proposal Jerusalem submitted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also asserted that he will not agree to a permanent ceasefire unless Hamas’s military capabilities have been destroyed. Biden said the deal would remove the terror group from power, but the publicized parts of the offer did lack specificity as to whether Hamas would be able to limp on after the war in some capacity.

Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have pledged to bolt the government if the premier gives a final okay to the proposal his war cabinet signed off on last week. It could still have enough support to pass the broader security cabinet, but National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to bring down the government, and Netanyahu has a history of backing out of deals he’s made due to fears of losing the support of right-wing coalition partners whose support he needs to remain in power.