JERUSALEM (AP) — Mediators trying to end the Israel-Hamas war expressed hope for an imminent deal Friday, saying two days of talks had wrapped up in Qatar and they aimed to reconvene in Cairo next week to seal an agreement to stop the fighting.
Israel issued a vague statement saying it appreciated the mediators’ efforts, and a statement from Hamas did not sound enthusiastic about the latest proposed deal to end the devastating 10-month war in Gaza and free Israeli hostages held in the territory. A cease-fire is seen as the best hope for heading off an even larger regional conflict.
But U.S. President Joe Biden sounded optimistic, saying, “We are closer than we’ve ever been” to an agreement.
Biden has expressed optimism for a deal before, only for talks to break down.
“We may have something,” Biden told reporters Friday. “But we’re not there yet.”
Both sides had agreed in principle to the plan Biden announced on May 31. But Hamas has proposed amendments, and Israel has suggested clarifications, leading each side to accuse the other of trying to tank a deal.
Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands, which include a lasting military presence along the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes to root out militants.
The statement from the mediators — Qatar, the United States and Egypt — said U.S. officials had presented a proposal that would bridge the gaps remaining between both sides’ positions. Teams will continue working in the coming days on how to implement the specifics of the proposal, they said.
“Senior officials from our governments will reconvene in Cairo before the end of next week with the aim to conclude the deal under the terms put forward today,” the statement said.
Hamas quickly cast doubt on whether an agreement was within reach.
In a statement, the militant group said the latest proposal diverged significantly from the previous iteration they had agreed to in principle, implying they were not disposed to accept it.
The Israeli prime minister’s office issued a statement saying it “appreciates the efforts of the U.S. and the mediators to dissuade Hamas from its refusal to a hostage release deal.”
The new push for an end to the Israel-Hamas war came as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed past 40,000, according to Gaza health authorities, and fears remained high that Iran and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon would attack Israel in retaliation for the killings of top militant leaders.
International mediators believe the best hope for calming tensions would be a deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the fighting and secure the release of Israeli hostages.
International diplomacy to prevent the war from spreading intensified Friday, with the British and French foreign ministers making a joint trip to Israel.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné appeared hopeful after meeting Friday with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Lammy said Israeli officials told them they hoped they were on the verge of sealing a deal.
“As we head now to 315 days of war, the time for a deal for those hostages to be returned, for aid to get in, in the quantities that are necessary in Gaza, and for the fighting to stop is now,” Lammy said.
Speaking alongside him, Sejourne called any action to destabilize negotiations unacceptable. He and Lammy had sent very clear messages to all parties that this was a key moment “because it could lead to peace or war,” he said.
Katz said in a statement that he told his British and French counterparts that if Iran attacks Israel, Israel expects its allies not just to help it defend itself, but to join in attacking Iran back.
He also warned Iran — which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen, all of whom have attacked Israel since the Gaza war started — to stop the attacks.
“Iran is the head of the axis of evil, and the free world must stop it now before it’s too late,” Katz said on X.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the heavily guarded border on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 250 to Gaza. More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November, and around 110 are believed to still be inside Gaza, though Israeli authorities believe around a third of them are dead.
Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive has killed 40,005 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday, without saying how many were militants. Israel’s military spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Thursday that Israel had killed more than 17,000 Hamas militants in Gaza in the war, without providing evidence.
Diplomats hoped a cease-fire deal would persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Tehran that was widely blamed on Israel.
The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
While talks were ongoing, Israel continued its offensive in Gaza.
On Friday it dropped leaflets asking civilians to evacuate from areas in northern Khan Younis and eastern Deir al-Balah, saying forces plan to respond to rocket fire that targeted Israel. After the orders were given, airstrikes hit some areas of Khan Younis, sending people fleeing. A video shows plumes of black smoke rising into the air after loud booms.
Egypt’s foreign minister said Friday that a cease-fire deal was key to tamping down temperatures across the region.
“We will exert all efforts in order to reach an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip as this is the basis to stop the escalation,” Badr Abdelaty said during a trip to Lebanon.
In a clear message to Israel, Hezbollah released a video Friday, with Hebrew and English subtitles, showing underground tunnels where trucks were transporting long-range missiles.
A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was speaking about military affairs, said the missiles in the video have a range of about 140 kilometers (86 miles), capable of reaching deep inside Israel.
Hezbollah has tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones that the group says give it the ability to hit anywhere in Israel. Hezbollah started attacking Israel on Oct. 8 and says it will only stop when the Gaza war ends.
