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Watch: Joe Biden refers to Hamas as ‘Hezbollah’ during ceasefire deal announcement
In another gaffe, Joe Biden mistakenly refers to Hamas as Hezbollah while announcing Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar.
United States President Joe Biden is no stranger to gaffes, especially throughout his presidential term's latter half. His newest one came while addressing a press conference on the ceasefire and hostage release agreement reached between Israel and Hamas. He mistakenly referred to Hamas as Hezbollah during the press conference.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon that challenged Israel from the latter’s northern front during the Gaza war to support Hamas.
In a video shared by Sky News, Joe Biden, with Vice President Kamala Harris and US’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken standing right behind him, declares that a “ceasefire and hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas.”
He then goes on to say, “More than fifteen months of conflict began with Hezbollah’s brutal massacre on October 7th,” while he actually meant Hamas, Gaza’s militant group that launched a brutal surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 which led to the 15-month long war.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal
The US, along with Egypt and Qatar, brokered the much-needed ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. The deal will put a stop to the 15-month long war between Israel and Gaza which sparked on October 7, 2023 after Hamas stormed Israel and killed around 1,210 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage. The retaliation by Israel, which went on for over a year, saw the death of over 46,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women.
The ceasefire deal, which will come into effect from January 19, will be implemented in three phases, said Joe Biden during the press conference.
“The deal is structured in three phases. Phase 1 will last six weeks, it includes a full and complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza and the release of the number of hostages held by Hamas, including women, elderly and the wounded,” said Joe Biden during the address.
Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange, he added. “During phase one, Palestinians can also return to their neighbourhoods in all areas of Gaza and a surge in humanitarian assistance in Gaza will begin and the innocent people can have greater access to these vital supplies,” he added.
To initiate phase 2, which includes the permanent end of the war, Israel will negotiate “necessary arrangements”, Joe Biden said. However, if the negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue.
“When phase 2 begins, there will be an exchange of the release of the remaining living hostages including male soldiers and remaining Israeli forces will be removed from Gaza and the temporary ceasefire will become permanent,” said Joe Biden.
“Finally, phase 3, any final remains of hostages who have been killed will return to their families and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin,” he added.
