Washington stepped up efforts on Friday to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to travel to Israel this weekend to bridge remaining stalemates in pursuit of an agreement.
Mr. Blinken leaves Saturday and will seek “to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners through the compromise proposal” presented by the United States on Friday during the talks in Doha, the State Department said.
“We have never been so close” to an agreement, assured President Joe Biden, on the sidelines of a ceremony at the White House.
“We are not there yet,” he acknowledged, but a compromise is “much closer than it was three days ago.”
The White House also said that the American president had spoken with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, about the progress made in Doha.
After two days of “constructive” negotiations held in a “positive atmosphere,” the talks will resume next week in Cairo, the United States, Qatar and Egypt announced in a joint statement.
“Senior officials from our governments are expected to meet in Cairo before the end of next week with the aim of concluding an agreement,” the statement said.
“The path is now paved for such an outcome in order to save lives, relieve the population of Gaza and reduce regional tensions,” the three countries said.
Washington submitted a new compromise proposal on Friday, supported by Egypt and Qatar, to “fill remaining gaps” over the “implementation” of an agreement by Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, according to the White House.
This American proposal is based on a roadmap presented by President Biden at the end of May, which provides for several phases for the cessation of hostilities and the release of hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack in southern Israel.
Washington has recently pushed, along with Egypt and Qatar, for a resumption of talks on a truce in Gaza because it believes a ceasefire could prevent an Iranian attack on Israel, which Tehran has threatened with “severe punishment” in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital in late July, which it blamed on Israel.
On Friday, in a statement that appeared to target Iran in particular, Joe Biden urged all actors in the Middle East “not to undermine” the efforts underway in Doha because a ceasefire agreement was “in sight.”
The human toll of the war has exceeded 40,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry, which does not detail the number of civilians and fighters killed.
It was triggered by Israel after the unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.