Netanyahu’s far-right partners reject the ceasefire settlement

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that Biden expected the plan would be unacceptable to some members of the Israeli government.

“Naturally, we saw some members of the Israeli government actually come out and oppose this,” Miller said. But he said the proposal “is in Israel’s long-term security interests.” This is clearly in the interest of the Palestinian people in the long term as well.”

Since Biden announced the plan on Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Miller said. He also spoke with Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli Defense Cabinet, and with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

“We are absolutely confident” that Israel supports the ceasefire plan, Miller said, adding that it was presented last week to Hamas, which has not yet responded officially.

Hamas said it “views positively” the proposal, as Mr. Biden described it on Friday. She did not say whether she would accept the deal. On Sunday, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, told Egyptian media that “the ball” is now “in Israel’s court.”

Mr. Netanyahu has insisted that the ceasefire proposal will enable Israel to continue fighting Hamas until all of its war aims are achieved, including destroying the military and governance capabilities of the group, which led the deadly October 7 attacks in southern Israel.

Two Israeli officials confirmed that the offer shared by Mr. Biden is broadly in line with the latest ceasefire proposal presented by Israel in talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt.

As much as the world’s focus has been on the mounting death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the focus in Israel is on the safety and release of the hostages, many of them civilians, who were captured on October 7 and transferred to Gaza.