A US official said an agreement was in place for a six-week truce in Gaza and it was now up to Hamas to accept it.
The United States says Israel approved a framework for a proposed Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal, and it was now up to the Palestinian group Hamas to accept it.
Saturday’s comments came hours before mediators are due to meet again in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to find a formula acceptable to Israel and Hamas for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
“There is a framework agreement. The Israelis have more or less accepted it,” a senior U.S. official in President Joe Biden’s administration told reporters in a conference call.
“For now, the ball is in Hamas’s court,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The framework proposal includes a six-week ceasefire, as well as the release by Hamas of captives considered vulnerable, including the sick, wounded, elderly and women, the US official said.
A deal would also likely allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza, who humanitarian officials say are at risk of starvation.
Israel has severely restricted the entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies into the Gaza Strip since its war began on October 7.
International mediators have been working for weeks to reach an agreement to suspend the fighting before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan around March 10.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said the US announcement “looks like an attempt to increase pressure on Hamas to accept the general terms of this ceasefire agreement.” -six-week fire.”
But it is not clear whether Hamas will accept, he added.
“Hamas has already insisted on a permanent and complete ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. These are demands that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called illusory,” Smith said.
“At first glance, the two sides seem very far apart,” he added.
Earlier this week, senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Tel Aviv Tribune that “the gap is still large” to reach an agreement with Israel, as the Palestinian group calls for a complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. His comments followed Biden’s remarks on Monday that a truce was a week away – comments that the US president later walked back.
A senior Egyptian official said the Egyptian and Qatari mediators are expected to receive a response from Hamas during the Cairo talks scheduled to begin on Sunday.
The Egyptian official also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive discussions.
Hamas has not renounced its position that a truce must be the start of a process to end the war, Egyptian sources and a Hamas official told the Reuters news agency.
However, the Egyptian source also said that assurances had been offered to Hamas that the terms of a ceasefire would be worked out during the second and third phases of the agreement.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Smith, citing Israeli media, said it was unclear whether an Israeli delegation would attend the truce talks in Cairo.
“According to Israeli media, Netanyahu also said he would not send anyone to Cairo until Hamas returns the list of all living prisoners. And Hamas told us it was not ready to do that,” he said.
During a week-long truce brokered by Qatar in November, 105 captives were released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.
In total, at least 30,320 Palestinians have been killed and 71,533 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel following the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
Israel’s devastating offensive and blockade of Gaza has destroyed much of the coastal enclave and left some 2.3 million people on the brink of famine.
Israeli forces opened fire on starving Palestinians trying to reach a humanitarian convoy on Thursday, killing at least 118 people. The attack sparked global outrage and led the United States to airdrop food aid to Gaza. Jordanian forces also took part in the operation.
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