US, Qatar, Egypt call for Gaza ceasefire

The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar today called on Israel and Gaza-based Hamas to resume talks next week on a ceasefire proposal presented by President Joe Biden on 31 May.

The joint statement, released by the White House today, is part of efforts by the Biden administration to prevent a direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran that threatens to involve US forces across the Middle East.

"The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal," the statement said. "There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement."

Israel and Hamas should meet in Cairo, Egypt, or Doha, Qatar, on 15 August to finalize the agreement, the statement said. The mediators are ready to present a proposal that addresses all objections Israel and Hamas raised, the joint statement said.

The White House does not expect that the 15 August meeting would immediately lead to a ceasefire "but we do believe that what's left here really can be bridged, and there's really just no time to lose," a senior US official said. "We're going to need some things from the Israelis. We're going to need some things from the Hamas side."

In the past six months, Hamas and Israel have each raised objections over the proposed ceasefire. But US officials appear to have concluded that they need to put more pressure on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire deal, which involves the release of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas on 7 October.

Netanyahu has so far refused to publicly endorse the proposed ceasefire deal even after being personally lobbied by Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris when he visited Washington on 22-26 August.

Deadly attacks exchanged between Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel since then, as well as the assassination of Palestinian group Hamas' chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July, have raised fear of an escalation of the Gaza conflict.

Israel has not explicitly acknowledged its involvement in Haniyeh's death. But Iranian officials have little doubt that Israel was behind the hit, vowing to retaliate.

Biden said that killing Haniyeh "has not helped" the ceasefire efforts.

The US in the past week has taken the rare step of reaching out directly to Iran to urge against an escalation. The senior US official today referenced a statement by Iran's UN mission to the UN in New York, which suggested that Tehran would consider the prospective ceasefire in Gaza a mitigating factor in determining how to respond to Haniyeh's death.

"If [Iran launches] a major war in the Middle East with some massive attack on Israel, which they're threatening in coordination with other groups, that's obviously going to significantly jeopardize any hope of getting a ceasefire in Gaza," the US official said. "But we will be prepared for any contingency, and we have moved an awful lot of military force into the region."

By Haik Gugarats