The U.S., Qatar and Egypt are calling for a new round of cease-fire talks on Aug. 15, the latest attempt by the Biden administration to end the war in Gaza even as the region braces for an expected Iranian attack on Israel.
In a statement on Thursday evening Washington time, the three nations mediating long-stalled talks between Israel and Hamas said they have “called on both sides to resume urgent discussion on Thursday, Aug. 15, in Doha or Cairo to close all remaining gaps” and implement a deal without delay.
“As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties,” according to the agreement signed by President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Israel will send a delegation to the Aug. 15 talks, according to a post on X from the prime minister’s office. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The U.S. doesn’t expect an agreement will be ready to be signed immediately on Aug. 15 as there’s still a significant amount of work to do, with both sides holding to firm positions, a senior Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a call on Thursday.
Still, the mediators believe that it’s possible to bridge the remaining gaps after a framework was agreed to in an initial, multiphase cease-fire proposal that Biden outlined in May, the official said.
For months, the talks have stalled, partly over Hamas’s insistence that a permanent halt to the hostilities be agreed to at the outset, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long insisted that after a pause Israeli forces must be allowed to continue the war until it destroys Hamas entirely.
However, U.S. officials now say a deal is closer than ever, even as the targeted killing of senior officials and commanders of the Iran-backed proxy groups Hamas and Hezbollah led to Iran’s vow to strike Israel.
It’s not clear who would represent Hamas in talks. After the group’s political leader was assassinated in Tehran, he was replaced in that role by Yahya Sinwar, a hard-line Hamas leader who is in hiding in Gaza, where he spearheads the group’s fight against Israel.
The threat from Iran — similar to an Iranian retaliatory attack on Israel in April — has prompted the U.S. to move additional military assets into the region in order to deter Tehran, and help shoot down missiles, drones and rockets aimed at Israeli targets.
The three nations have been pressuring the two sides for months, urging Israel and Hamas to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip that has killed roughly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the coastal strip. Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union.
Kenneth Hughes contributed to this report.
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