Joe Biden pushes for truce deal in Eid message

The United States pressured Israel and Hamas to formally accept the ceasefire agreement.

Washington:

President Joe Biden used his Eid al-Adha message to Muslims to argue for a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal in Gaza, saying Sunday it was the best way to help civilians suffering from the “horrors of the war between Hamas and Israel”.

“Too many innocent people have been killed, including thousands of children. Families have fled their homes and seen their communities destroyed. Their pain is immense,” Biden said in a statement.

“I firmly believe that the three-phase ceasefire proposal that Israel made to Hamas and that the UN Security Council approved is the best way to end the violence in Gaza and, ultimately, to war,” he added.

The United States has been pressuring Israel and Hamas to formally accept the ceasefire deal approved last week by Security Council members, which would allow an initial six-week pause in fighting .

Eid al-Adha, which marks Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God, saw a rare day of relative calm in Gaza after Israel announced a “tactical pause” in fighting near Rafah to ease the delivery of aid.

The president highlighted U.S. efforts to “defend the rights of other Muslim communities” facing persecution, including the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Uyghurs in China.

He said that “we are also working to bring a peaceful resolution to the horrific conflict in Sudan”, plagued by fighting between the country’s army and a rival paramilitary group since April 2023.

Domestically, Biden’s message Sunday also promised a crackdown on Islamophobia in a direct appeal to American Muslims, a key demographic in the Democrat’s re-election campaign against Republican rival Donald Trump.

“My administration is creating a national strategy to combat Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, which affect not only Muslims, but also Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans,” Biden said .

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