'Time to end' Gaza war, Biden says


Thomas Watkins
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Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza

US President Joe Biden has said it is “time to end” the Gaza war and that he had told Israel not to occupy the Palestinian enclave after the conflict concludes.

Speaking at a highly anticipated press conference late on Thursday aimed at reassuring the Democratic Party about his mental acuity and physical health, Mr Biden said his ceasefire framework had been agreed on by both Israel and Hamas but there were still gaps to close.

He added that he has “sent my team to the region to hammer out the details”.

“These are difficult, complex issues. There are still gaps to close. We're making progress. The trend is positive, and I'm determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this war, which should end now.”

Mr Biden in late May detailed a three-phase proposal aimed at achieving a ceasefire, the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian detainees held by Israel, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, and the rebuilding of the coastal enclave.

The President's support for Israel since October 7 has infuriated millions of voters who skew Democrat, including Arab Americans and progressives.

The Biden administration has also faced international criticism for its continued support of Israel in the face of growing civilian casualties in Gaza.

Underscoring the stakes of a ceasefire, sources told The National on Thursday that Yemen's Houthi rebels and Iraqi militias have informed their ally Hamas they will cease attacks on Israeli targets if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

Mr Biden said it is “time to end this war” but stressed that did not mean Israel needed to “walk away from going after” Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the militant group.

The President also said he had told Israel to learn from America’s protracted time in Afghanistan that occupying Gaza would not work.

“Once we got [Osama] bin Laden, we should have moved on,” he said.

Mr Biden expressed disappointment that his plan to funnel food aid into Gaza via a temporary pier had not been more successful, after the Pentagon said the facility would cease operations soon.

He partly blamed Israel for not being more helpful.

“I met with most of the Arab leaders to try to get a consensus going as to what had to be done to deal with getting more aid and food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. And we pushed it really hard, and Israel occasionally was less than co-operative,” Mr Biden said.

“There's a lot of things, in retrospect, I wish I'd had been able to convince Israelis to do.”

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Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

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Updated: July 12, 2024, 1:57 AM`