US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said yesterday, Tuesday, that the proposal that President Joe Biden recently referred to in his speech is the proposal that Israel accepted before and is still accepting today, while Brett McGurk, Biden’s senior advisor, arrives in Cairo a day after the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency. (CIA) William Burns to Doha, to discuss mechanisms for resuming negotiations to stop the war on Gaza.
Sullivan stated – in a non-video press briefing – that the United States is waiting for Hamas’ response and does not pay attention to gossip in various media outlets regarding the movement’s supposed response.
He stressed that it is only concerned with the official response that is conveyed to the Qatari mediators, with whom he said the United States is in contact around the clock.
The US National Security Advisor stated that what Washington would like to see in the end is a comprehensive and coherent strategy linked to the end of military operations, and it will continue to pressure the Israelis to follow this path.
He explained that Burns is in the Qatari capital to discuss with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, about the discussions with Hamas regarding the proposal.
Possible meeting
This comes as Cairo News Channel said that the Qatari capital, Doha, will host an Egyptian-Qatari-American meeting today, Wednesday, to discuss mechanisms for resuming negotiations after the US President’s speech, but the Qatari government has not confirmed this yet.
The Qatari government announced yesterday that it had received the deal proposal as announced by the US President, and in turn handed it over to Hamas.
Last night, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the Israeli War Council unanimously decided to request guarantees from the United States that the war on Gaza will resume if Hamas does not commit to completing the stages of the prisoner exchange deal.
The Commission confirmed that the War Council’s decision will be part of Israel’s conditions for concluding a new exchange deal.
Last Friday, Biden spoke about Israel submitting a three-stage proposal that includes a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of detainees, and the reconstruction of the Strip.
Israel did not announce a final position on what Biden announced, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described what the US President presented as inaccurate, and said that he did not agree to end the war in the second phase of the proposal, but only to discuss that step according to Tel Aviv’s terms.
As for the Hamas movement, it said through its leader, Osama Hamdan, that Israel did not present a new proposal, as Biden said, but rather an objection to the proposal of the Egyptian and Qatari mediators that the movement received on May 5, and it and the Palestinian factions announced their approval of it on the 6th of the same month, while Israel rejected him, claiming that he did not meet its conditions.
Last May, Cairo hosted, over two days, the last negotiating round regarding Gaza, before the delegations of Hamas and Israel left the Egyptian capital on the 9th of the same month without announcing that an agreement had been reached.