This timid advance comes as fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, with at least 18 dead Thursday in Israeli strikes on two schools according to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and amid fears of widespread military escalation in the Middle East.
“Following the proposal of the United States and the mediators, Israel will send on August 15 a delegation of negotiators to the location that will be agreed upon to finalize the details of concretizing an agreement,” the Prime Minister's office announced in a press release Thursday evening. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A step-by-step agreement
Earlier, Washington, Cairo and Doha invited the opposing sides to resume talks on August 15, indicating that a framework agreement was “now on the table and only the details of its implementation are missing”. “As mediators we are ready, if necessary, to present a final proposal that could resolve the implementation issues (of an agreement) in a way that meets the expectations of all parties,” the text added.
Qatar has been engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations for months, with the support of Cairo and Washington, to try to reach a truce and an agreement on the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and held in the Gaza Strip.
The prospect of a cessation of hostilities depends on a phased agreement, starting with a ceasefire. The latest talks were based on a framework laid out by President Joe Biden in late May, which he said was proposed by Israel. The latest framework agreement proposal “builds on the principles” previously outlined by Biden, according to the statement.
“The time has come to conclude a cease-fire and agreement for the release of hostages and prisoners,” the text continued, according to which “there is no more time to lose and no excuse for either side to justify further delay.
All mediation attempts have failed
“It's not like the deal will be ready to be signed on Thursday. There's still a lot to do,” a senior Biden administration official said of the talks. Israel has been “very responsive,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity, dismissing suggestions that Netanyahu was dragging things out.
This development comes after the appointment of Yahya Sinouar as head by Hamasaccused by Israeli authorities of being one of the masterminds of the attack launched on October 7 by the Islamist movement on Israeli soil, raising fears that the already difficult negotiations could become even more so. Israel has vowed to “eliminate” Sinwar, who has not appeared in public since October 7.
For ten months, all attempts at mediation have failed and the war, which according to Hamas has left nearly 40,000 dead in the small besieged Palestinian territory, has exacerbated tensions in the Middle East between Iran on the one hand and armed groups which they support. , and Israel on the other hand.
US military presence strengthened
Diplomatic efforts continue in all directions to avoid a region-wide conflagration, after Iran vows retaliation for assassination of Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh, on July 31 in the Iranian capital, blamed Israel on the part of Tehran. A day earlier, Fouad Chokr, the military leader of Lebanon's Hamas-allied Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel made a “strategic mistake” that “will cost it dearly” by killing Haniyeh, Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri said.