U.S. proposes final Gaza cease-fire plan, seeking agreement by next week

JERUSALEM - The United States and its allies said Friday that they have presented a final proposal to Hamas and Israel for a cease-fire and hostage deal that they hope can be agreed upon by the end of next week.

The joint statement by the United States, Qatar and Egypt did not include any specifics on the deal, and the fate of the Biden administration’s latest effort to end the war in Gaza and stave off an Iranian attack on Israel over its recent spate of assassinations remains uncertain, given that both Israel and Hamas accused each other of being out of step with a previously agreed upon framework.

But the mediators insisted that all parties are closer to a final agreement after two days of intensive negotiations in the gas-rich Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

“We’re much, much closer than we were three days ago,” President Joe Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t want to jinx anything,” he added, but “we’re close.”

The joint statement from the mediators said the proposal “bridges remaining gaps” between Israel and Hamas and “allows for a swift implementation of the deal.”

In the coming days, lower-level officials will hammer out the remaining technical details related to the release of hostages, detainees and the implementation of humanitarian provisions. Before the end of next week, senior officials will reconvene in Cairo “with the aim to conclude the deal under the terms put forward today,” the joint statement said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel’s fundamental principles are well known to the mediators and the U.S., and Israel hopes that their pressure will lead Hamas to accept the principles of May 27, so that the details of the agreement can be implemented.”

Meanwhile, senior Hamas officials said the outline they were briefed on did not align with earlier frameworks to which they agreed. “The Israeli party did not adhere to what was agreed upon,” said Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau.

But Washington wasn’t alone in expressing optimism about the latest round of negotiations, with some Arab officials crediting Biden’s sense of urgency with moving things along.

“I am more hopeful compared to any other time before,” said a former senior Egyptian official with knowledge of the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks. “They are the ones who most want to get it over and done with more than anyone else.”

After the first day of talks on Thursday, Qatar’s prime minister assessed that progress was being made and implored Iran’s leaders to hold off on an expected assault on Israel to avoid scuttling an emerging deal, according to two diplomats familiar with the conversation.

The phone call from Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Iran underscored the stakes of the negotiations, which included Israel. Hamas officials, some of whom live in Doha, did not directly participate in the talks, but mediators kept them updated on the status of the negotiations.

Mohammed “encouraged Iran to de-escalate and stressed the need for calm” during the call, one of the diplomats said. The second diplomat said the Qatari prime minister warned Iran to consider the grave consequences of waging an assault at the very moment there are signs of diplomatic progress.

An Israeli official also said progress had been made in the first day of talks, justifying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to keep his negotiators in Doha overnight. The official and the two diplomats - who, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation - declined to specify where Israeli officials may have adjusted their position on the proposed deal, which includes a six-week cease-fire, the release of scores of hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from major population centers in Gaza. Israel previously insisted on additions to a framework announced by Biden in May.

For weeks, Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have threatened to retaliate against Israel for the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role in Haniyeh’s killing - though it privately told U.S. officials that it was responsible.

The Israel Defense Forces has been on high alert, and the White House warned Thursday that a strike could happen imminently and without notice.

“We have information … that an attack could come with little or no warning, and certainly could come in coming days, and we have to be ready for it,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a phone briefing.

In the talks in Doha, the United States is being represented by CIA Director William J. Burns and White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk. Egypt is represented by its intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, and Israel by Mossad head David Barnea as well as Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon. Mohammed is in attendance for Qatar.

“In the lead-up to this meeting, we’d already narrowed some gaps,” Kirby said, adding that “the remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close.”

Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said Thursday on social media that “any agreement must achieve a comprehensive cease-fire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, the return of the displaced and the reconstruction, in addition to a prisoner exchange deal.”

During previous talks, Israel insisted on additions to the framework announced by Biden, including its military retaining indefinite control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, according to officials familiar with the process. It also insisted on setting up checkpoints to process Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza. Hamas had appeared to meet the conditions in the proposal announced by Biden, U.S. officials said.

An Israeli official said Thursday that Netanyahu is adamant that the IDF remain in the Philadelphi corridor.

Israeli media, which first reported on the Qatari prime minister’s conversation with Iran’s leaders, said a breakthrough in the talks is related to the Netzarim Corridor, a four-mile-long road just south of Gaza City that runs from east to west, stretching from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas has made Israel’s withdrawal from the area a central demand in cease-fire negotiations.

- - -

Vinall reported from Seoul, Bisset from London and Balousha from Cairo. Tyler Pager in Washington contributed to this report.