US negotiators racing to present new Gaza ceasefire proposal, sources say
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Much of the new deal has been agreed upon, but negotiators are still trying to hammer out solutions to two main obstacles.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON/DOHA/CAIRO – The White House is scrambling to put forward a new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas in the coming days, two US officials, two Egyptian security sources and an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The new proposal aims to work out the major sticking points behind a months-long impasse in talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt seeking a truce in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the US officials said.
Much of the deal has been agreed upon, a senior Biden administration official separately told reporters on Sept 4, but negotiators were still trying to hammer out solutions to two main obstacles.
Those are Israel’s demand to keep forces in the Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt, and the specific individuals who would be included in an exchange of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, said the administration official, who declined to be identified.
The first US official said a new draft accord could be produced next week or even sooner. “The feeling is the time is up. Don’t be surprised if you see (the revised draft) this weekend,” that official said.
The administration official said Hamas’ killing of six hostages,
US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns, the lead US negotiator, heads the small group of senior US officials working on the draft. The group includes White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the first US official said.
“There is a very strong perception on the part of the negotiators that the ceasefire is slipping away,” the official said, underscoring the urgency of the effort.
Since Mr Blinken's latest tour of the region in August failed to produce a breakthrough, mediators have kept up working-level discussions, and those talks are continuing, the first US official said.
The Egyptian sources said the US was shifting from a more consultative approach to trying to impose a ceasefire plan on the parties.
Both US officials said the revised plan would not be a final take-it-or-leave-it offer and that Washington would continue working towards a ceasefire if it falls through.
Israeli presence
On Sept 3, five Arab countries, including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, as well as the Palestinian Authority, joined Egypt in rejecting Israel’s demand to keep its troops deployed in the Philadelphi corridor. On Sept 4, Turkey issued a similar statement.
Parts of the three-phase agreement already accepted by both sides require Israel to withdraw from all densely populated areas of Gaza in the first phase of the deal. The senior administration official said the current dispute is whether the corridor qualifies as a densely populated area.
“So we’re really talking here about phase one, about what that configuration will look like,” the official added.
The US group is considering areas of the Philadelphi corridor where Israeli troops would have to withdraw and areas where they could stay, the first US official said.
At talks in Qatar on Sept 2, an Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea told mediators that Israel was willing to withdraw its troops from the corridor after the first 42-day phase of a ceasefire, the official with knowledge of the talks said.
But hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a news conference in Jerusalem and insisted that Israel retain control of the Philadelphi corridor, comments that the official said were made after the delegation had returned home.
Mr Netanyahu on Sept 4 repeated his outright rejection of a withdrawal from the corridor in the first phase of a deal. Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire after that only if there were guarantees that the corridor could never be used as a route for smuggling weapons and supplies into Gaza for Hamas.
“This has placed the mediating parties in a difficult position. If Israel remains in the Philadelphi corridor, neither Egypt nor Hamas would agree to any agreement,” the official with knowledge of the matter said.
Mr Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
Senior Hamas official Izzat Al Risheq on Sept 4 said the group would deal with a new proposal that “responds to the demands of the resistance and the demands of our people”, without providing specifics. Hamas said in a statement that there was no need for new proposals, and accused Mr Netanyahu of seeking to thwart a deal.
Israel seized control of the Philadelphi corridor in May, saying it was used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and banned material into its tunnels to Gaza.
The Israeli advance resulted in the closure of the Rafah crossing, sharply reducing humanitarian aid entering Gaza, halting most medical evacuations and potentially depriving Egypt of its role in brokering access to the only border crossing into Gaza not directly controlled by Israel.
Egypt says tunnels used for smuggling into Gaza have been closed or destroyed, a Palestinian presence at Rafah should be restored, and that the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone is guaranteed by the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
The 11-month-old conflict erupted on Oct 7 when Hamas attacked Israel,
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 41,000 Palestinians and largely levelled the coastal enclave, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and creating a humanitarian crisis, Gaza’s health authorities have said. REUTERS
