Following two days of talks with Israeli negotiators in Qatar, the United States proposed a plan for a Gaza truce; however, Hamas announced on Friday that the Palestinian organization rejected the “new conditions” in the plan.
Following over ten months of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, worldwide pressure for a ceasefire has grown. US President Joe Biden declared, “We are closer than we have ever been.”
According to the State Department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel this coming weekend in order to further the most recent proposal.
“Secretary Blinken will underscore the critical need for all parties in the region to avoid escalation or any other actions that could undermine the ability to finalise an agreement,” it said.
Since Ismail Haniyeh, the senior head of Hamas, was killed on July 31 in an attack in Iran that was attributed to Israel, raising concerns of a larger Middle East war and threats of retaliation, Washington has sided with its European allies in calling for a fast ceasefire in Gaza.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been working to finalize the details of a framework that Biden first presented in May and said Israel had suggested.
However, months of negotiations have not been able to agree on the specifics of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
The mediators said that the two days of talks in Doha were “serious and constructive”.
They stated in a joint statement that the US had brought a “bridging proposal” aimed at securing a speedy agreement during a fresh round of negotiations in Cairo the following week.
With little delay, Hamas declared its disapproval of the “new conditions” that Israel included in the most recent plan.
Referring to Biden’s framework, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the mediators to exert “pressure” on Hamas “to accept the 27-May principles”.
However, Netanyahu was directly blamed by Jordan, a staunch friend of the West, for impeding a deal, with foreign minister Ayman Safadi calling for pressure “from everyone who wishes to see this through to completion.”
