Washington is expected to unveil an updated Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release agreement in the coming days – possibly this weekend – that will be presented to both Israel and Hamas as a “take it or leave it” deal.
Contacts continue and the US, together with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, aim to finalise details with Israel before exerting pressure on Hamas.
A senior Biden administration official said a deal was being held up by two remaining obstacles: the names of Palestinian security prisoners Hamas is seeking to free and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
“Basically 90 per cent of this deal has been agreed, and it’s been agreed at terms that even Hamas had (in its own proposal),” the official said.
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However, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in an interview with Fox News, denied that a breakthrough was close. “That’s exactly inaccurate,” he said. “There’s a story and a narrative out there that there’s a deal out there.”
Hamas said there was no need for new ceasefire proposals, blaming Israel for the deadlock, saying Mr Netanyahu’s refusal to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor aims to thwart an agreement to end the war and secure the release of the hostages.
US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew warned that time is running out for the hostages. “It is absolutely essential to get into phase one, that’s how you save lives – after this weekend we must understand that time is of the essence, that these lives won’t be left to be saved if we wait too long,” he told a Tel Aviv security conference, outlining the regional implications.
“We’re going to press on flexibility to find the key to a diplomatic solution. Our plan A is a ceasefire and hostage release, proceed to a negotiation with Hizbullah in Lebanon to have a diplomatic solution in the north, and then to proceed, on the narrow time we have left – to get normalisation (with Saudi Arabia) accomplished.”
NBC reported that the families of American hostages held in Gaza have asked the White House to cut a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of their relatives, but administration officials say a deal that includes Israel is the best approach because only Israel can respond to Hamas demands.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7th. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages seized in the surprise Hamas attack on that day. More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 others taken captive but believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities.
Gaza’s health ministry claimed on Thursday that Israel is refusing to coordinate the entry of medical teams into the southeastern part of the enclave as part of an operation to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children against polio.
The Israel Defence Forces reported that another seven militants were killed in air and ground attacks in the northern West Bank as Israel’s operation continued into its tenth day.
In Munich police shot and killed an 18-year-old carrying a long rifle with a bayonet, close to the Israeli consulate, after an exchange of fire on Thursday morning. The Bavarian authorities said the gunman was an Austrian citizen who was known to the authorities as an Islamist and confirmed that he was planning an attack against the consulate.
The German daily Der Spiegel reported that European intelligence agencies have recently thwarted Iranian efforts to attack Jewish institutions in France and Germany, relying on the use of organised crime groups.
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