Mediators urge Israel and Hamas to accept new cease-fire bid

Mediators have tried over the weekend to convince both Israel and Hamas to sign up to a new cease-fire proposal for Gaza made public by US President Joe Biden on Friday.

Biden presented the plan as originally an Israeli one, although Israel’s government has voiced criticism of some of the details since then. Still, senior US officials said they were confident of Israeli agreement if Hamas were to sign up.

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“This was an Israeli proposal. We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal — as was transmitted to them, an Israeli proposal — then Israel would say yes,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday in an interview with ABC News.

Talks seeking a cease-fire have been ongoing for months — mediated primarily by Egypt, Qatar and the US — but none of these efforts have borne fruit since a one-week pause in fighting in November, when Israeli hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE THREE-STEP FRAMEWORK?

The proposal outlines three distinct phases, and is reminiscent of but not identical to past suggestions.

Stage 1 would be a six-week period in which Israeli troops withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza. That period would also foresee the “release of a number of hostages” taken by Hamas in the October 7 terror attacks, in exchange for the release of some Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

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Stage 2 foresees the release of all remaining hostages and a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.

Stage 3 then foresees the start of a major reconstruction effort in Gaza.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also said that it includes provisions seeking to facilitate increased aid access to Gaza.

A temporary truce would accompany these efforts for as long as bilateral talks did not break down. And, as Biden put it, “as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary cease-fire would become, in the words of the Israeli proposal, ‘the cessation of hostilities permanently.'”

“It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” Biden said when floating the deal.

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The US president’s position on the war has developed from more or less unconditional support for Israel in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attacks to a much more critical position as the conflict drags on and as the death toll in Gaza, now at more than 36,000, continues to climb.

Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators urged both sides to “finalize” the proposal in a joint statement over the weekend.