J Street calls for 'negotiated stop to the fighting' in Gaza

J Street, the Washington, DC-based lobbying group that advocates for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said in a press release on Monday that it was "time for a negotiated stop to the fighting to bring freedom to the hostages and relief to the people of Gaza."

The group cited Minister Gadi Eizenkot's statement in an interview with Israeli news program Uvda, in which the defense official dismissed the possibility of an Entebbe-style hostage rescue, and insisted that only a negotiated agreement with Hamas would result in the hostages' release.

"Israel had the unquestioned right to respond militarily to the horrific terror attack of October 7," J Street said, "and will have an ongoing responsibility to continue to protect and defend its citizens and hold to account those who perpetrated the October 7 attack. However, the time for war has come to a close. Now is the time to lead with diplomacy."

Statement says Hamas must "no longer [be] in operational control of Gaza"

"There is only one route to ending the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts," the statement said: "a broad regional diplomatic agreement" that sets the stage for a two-state solution and to a future "in which Hamas is no longer in operational control of Gaza."

The statement avoided use of the word "ceasefire," and it was not clear what plan of action the organization was supporting. Earlier this month, Americans for Peace Now, the left-wing pro-Israel organization, called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, becoming the first American Zionist group to do so.