Israel mourns dead hostages as major powers urge Gaza truce

Israel mourns hostages as global powers support Biden's truce plan for Gaza, backed by UN Security Council resolution.

Israel on Tuesday mourned four hostages confirmed dead inside war-torn Gaza as Western and West Asia powers threw their support behind a truce deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden.

Washington said it would seek a UN Security Council resolution to back the three-phase plan which was welcomed by the Group of Seven developed countries and by leading regional governments.

Under the proposal which Mr. Biden presented last Friday as Israel’s plan, fighting would stop for an initial six weeks and hostages would be swapped for Palestinian prisoners, ahead of the start of the rebuilding of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, however, stressed since that fighting would only have to cease temporarily to free the captives, and that one of Israel’s key war aims remains the destruction of Hamas.

The White House insisted on Monday that the plan was Israel’s own and not drafted by Washington to put pressure on its key ally. “It is an Israeli proposal,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. “It’s one that we, and they, worked on through some intense diplomacy.”

Hamas, the Islamist group that has long ruled the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people, said on Friday it viewed Mr. Biden’s outline “positively” but has since made no official comment.

The group has previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza in months of intermittent talks involving U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators.