TOPSHOT – A woman stands holding a child surrounded by the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli shelling in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 23, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
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Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha broke down on Friday with negotiators meeting again next week to seek an agreement to end fighting between Israel and Hamas and free the remaining hostages, as US President Joe Biden said that “we’re not there yet.”
In a joint statement, the US, Qatar and Egypt said Washington presented a new proposal based on points of agreement last week, closing loopholes in a way that could allow a deal to be quickly implemented. Mediators will continue to work on the proposal, they said.
“The path is now set for this outcome, saving lives, bringing relief to the people of Gaza and de-escalating regional tensions,” they said in their statement.
On Thursday, Israel and mediators began the latest round of months-long talks to end the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Palestinian militant group Hamas was not directly involved, but was kept informed of the talks.
A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, told Reuters that Israel “did not abide by what was agreed” in previous talks, citing what mediators had told them.
Biden: Deal ‘much, much closer’
In Washington, Biden said the deal was “much, much closer” than before the talks began. A senior government official said the latest talks were the most productive in months and negotiators will meet again next week in Cairo hoping to conclude them.
“It’s been the consensus of everyone involved in the last 48 hours that there really is a new spirit here to see it through to a conclusion,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “The Israeli team that was here was strengthened…We made a lot of progress in the number of issues we were working on,” the official said.
Biden said in a statement that he had directed his negotiating team to submit the comprehensive bridging proposal presented on Friday, which he said offers the basis for a final agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
The US president said he spoke with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who he said expressed strong support for the US proposal. Teams will remain on the ground to continue technical work and senior officials will convene in Cairo “before the end of the week,” he said.
Biden added that he is sending U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Israel and “underline that with the comprehensive ceasefire agreement and hostage release now in sight, no one in the region should receive measures to undermine this process’.
US President Joe Biden speaks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) during a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the East Room of the White House on April 11, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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On Friday night, Biden told reporters he was optimistic about the prospects for a ceasefire deal, but warned it is “not over.” Asked when the ceasefire would begin if a deal is reached, Biden said: “That remains to be seen.” Israel has insisted that peace will only be possible if Hamas is destroyed, while Hamas has said it will only accept a permanent cease-fire, not a temporary one.
Other difficulties include the sequencing of the deals, the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released along with the Israeli hostages, control of the Gaza-Egypt border and the free movement of Palestinians within Gaza.
An Israeli official said his delegation in Doha was heading home, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to meet with Blinken on Monday. On Friday, Israeli forces struck targets in tiny, crowded Gaza and issued fresh orders for people to leave areas it had previously designated as safe zones for civilians, saying Hamas had used them to fire mortars and rockets into Israel. .
As hundreds of families fled with their salvaged belongings, the United Nations called for a week-long pause in fighting a polio vaccination campaign with disease spreading among the displaced. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that it had detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip.
The latest hostilities in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities.
It has also displaced almost its entire population of 2.3 million, triggered a famine and led to allegations of genocide at the World Court that Israel denies. Israel said it had eliminated 17,000 Hamas fighters, while also adding that the group was using civilians as human shields.
Regional fears
The Israeli delegation included intelligence chief David Barnea, head of internal security agency Ronen Barr and army hostage chief Nijan Alon, defense officials said. The White House sent CIA director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel also attended.
Washington hopes a ceasefire deal in Gaza can defuse the risk of a wider war. Iran has threatened retaliation against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
The US has sent warships, submarines and warplanes to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers. Asked on Friday whether Iran would continue to delay retaliation against Israel now that ceasefire talks have been extended, Iran’s UN envoy in New York said, “We hope so.”
The senior Biden administration official said Washington warned Tehran against launching a major missile strike against Israel “because the consequences could be quite devastating, particularly for Iran.”