7/9/2024–|Last update: 7/9/202410:52 PM (Makkah Time)
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported, citing sources, that the US administration called the proposed deal that is being formulated “the last chance,” while the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirmed that the United States will present a new, more detailed proposal to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel in the coming days.
The Israeli Authority said that the new American proposal may be presented tomorrow or within the next few days.
Regarding the content of the American settlement proposal, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that it includes all the points of contention, most notably the Philadelphi (Salah al-Din) axis separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
She added that the US administration expresses its hope to reach a deal, “at least in the media.”
But the Israeli authority quoted informed officials as saying that there is an atmosphere of pessimism about the possibility of reaching a deal, and yet the proposal will be presented anyway.
For its part, CNN quoted a senior US administration official as saying that Washington knows that the Israeli Defense Ministry and army want to end the war in Gaza.
This official pointed out that the Israeli army needs a period of rest and re-equipment in anticipation of the outbreak of war in the north, according to him.
Burns: The new proposal is more detailed.
CIA Director William Burns said the United States is working with Qatar and Egypt on a new, more detailed proposal for a prisoner exchange and ceasefire in Gaza, which he said will be presented to Hamas and Israel in the coming days.
Burns expressed hope that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would agree to reach an agreement on prisoners and a ceasefire.
He explained – in statements he made during a forum organized by the Financial Times newspaper in London today, Saturday – that “there is concern among the security agencies we deal with, including the Israeli ones, about the possibility of the conflict expanding.”
The US official stressed that Washington will continue to work with other mediators to reach a ceasefire in Gaza because there is no alternative to that, according to his expression.
He said that reaching a deal “depends on the extent of the political will of the leaders of both parties,” adding that “any country that has influence over Hamas must push it to accept a ceasefire agreement and end the suffering in Gaza,” according to his expression.
British Intelligence Director: Hamas is a movement and an idea and it can only be killed by a better idea#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/hDOQj8mcC6
— Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) September 7, 2024
“Hamas is an idea”
In the same context, the head of the British Foreign Intelligence Service (MI6), Richard Moore, said that the ceasefire in Gaza is related to the political will of both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Moore told the Financial Times during the same forum that Hamas’s military capabilities had deteriorated severely, but he stressed that they had not been eliminated.
“Hamas is a movement and an idea, and you can only kill it with a better idea, and the Palestinians need a better alternative,” he said.
The British official believed that stopping the fighting in Gaza would provide solutions to the issues of the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, and navigation in the Red Sea.