Netanyahu aide says Israel agreed to Biden's cease-fire plan for Gaza

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Britain's Sunday Times that Israel had agreed to the framework for President Joe Biden's plan to bring an end to the war in Gaza, though he said it was "not a good deal."

A deal is yet to be finalized, andIsrael's official position remains unclear. NBC News has reached out to the Isreali Prime Minister's Office for clarification.

Biden announced Friday that Israel had proposed a three-part plan that would ultimately lead to a complete cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as well as the release of all hostages who have been held there for the last eight months. It's "time for this war to end," Biden said.

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On Saturday, Netanyahu appeared to undermine the plan, releasing a statement that called a permanent cease-fire in Gaza a "nonstarter" until long-standing conditions for ending the war are met, reiterating that "Israel's conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel."

In an interview Britain's Sunday Times, Ophir Falk, chief foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, emphasized that Israel was not rejecting the deal, saying that it was "a deal we agreed to — it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them."

He added that Israel's conditions "have not changed" — the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas.

Biden's plan recast the end to the war, not with the destruction of Hamas, as Israel seeks, but with a degraded Hamas "no longer capable" of carrying out a large-scale attack on Israel like the one by the militant group in October 7.

"Indefinite war in