Demonstrator symbolically use accessories during an anti-government protest on Thursday calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza — AFP NEW YORK, Sept 05 (Reuters/AFP): The White House is scrambling to put forward a new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas in the coming days, two US officials, two Egyptian security sources and an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The new proposal aims to work out the major sticking points behind a months-long impasse in talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt seeking a truce in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the US officials said.
Much of the deal has been agreed upon, a senior Biden administration official separately told reporters on Wednesday, but negotiators were still trying to hammer out solutions to two main obstacles.
Those are Israel's demand to keep forces in the Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt, and the specific individuals who would be included in an exchange of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, said the administration official, who declined to be identified.
The first US official said a new draft accord could be produced next week or even sooner. "The feeling is the time is up. Don't be surprised if you see (the revised draft) this weekend," that official said.
The administration official said Hamas' killing of six hostages, whose bodies were returned to Israel over the weekend, complicated the effort. "We all feel the urgency," the administration official said. CIA Director William Burns, the lead US negotiator, heads the small group of senior US officials working on the draft which includes White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the first US official said.
"There is a very strong perception on the part of the negotiators that the ceasefire is slipping away," the first US official said, underscoring the urgency underpinning the effort.
Since Blinken's latest tour of the region last month failed to produce a breakthrough, mediators have kept up working-level discussions, and those talks are continuing, the first US official said.
The Egyptian sources said the US was shifting from a more consultative approach to trying to impose a ceasefire plan on the parties.
Both US officials said the revised plan would not be a final take-it-or-leave it offer and that Washington would continue working towards a ceasefire if it fell through.
Five killed as Israel raids
West Bank's Tubas
Palestinian medics reported Thursday that five people were killed in a strike targeting a car in the occupied West Bank area of Tubas, as the Israeli military said it carried out raids.
"Five killed and (one) seriously wounded in a strike (on) a car in Tubas," the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement.
The Israeli military said its aircraft "conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists" in the Tubas area.
A large number of Israeli troops stormed the Faraa refugee camp in Tubas governorate, where explosions were heard, eyewitnesses told AFP.
Israel launched a massive offensive across the northern West Bank on August 28, fighting Palestinian militants and leaving widespread destruction.
Israel has killed more than 30 Palestinians in the assault, the territory's health ministry says, including children and militants.
One Israeli soldier was killed in Jenin, where the majority of the Palestinian fatalities have taken place.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and the military has ramped up its deadly raids in the territory since its war in Gaza against Hamas militants erupted on October 7.
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