US reworks Gaza ceasefire proposal to strike deal between Israel & Hamas, says report

The United States has reworked the proposed ceasefire and hostage-release deal to bridge the gaps in the positions of Israel and Hamas, according to a report.

The current proposal being discussed, and the one reportedly being reworked now, is the one that US President Joe Biden outlined late last month in a speech from the White House. It calls for a three-step process for the end of war in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other terrorist groups.

While Israel has endorsed the proposal, the response of Hamas has amounted to effectively a rejection.

Now, Axios has reported that the Joe Biden administration of the United States has reworked the language of certain parts of the proposal. The report quoted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that “numerous changes” were made to the proposal.

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What are the changes of Gaza ceasefire deal?

The changes have been made to the Article 8 of the proposal that is related to the negotiations between Israel and Hamas between the first and the second phase of the proposal, according to Axios.

In the original plan outlined by Biden, the first phase would have a six-week ceasefire in which women, the elderly, and wounded hostages will be released in lieu of the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The Palestinians would also return to their homes as Israel would withdraw from Gaza’s populated areas. In the second phase, the war will permanently end and all hostages will be released. In the third phase, Gaza’s reconstruction will start.

Now, Axios has reported that the new changes relate the negotiations between Israel and Hamas during the implementation of the phase one of the deal.

During these negotiations, Hamas wants to focus only on the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel for every living Israeli soldier or male hostage, the report quoted sources as saying. On the other hand, Israel wants to have the ability to raise the de-militarisation of Gaza and other issues during this round of talks, as per the sources.

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The report said the United States is working with Qatar and Egypt to bridge the gap between the positions of Israel and Hamas.

The United States has continued to maintain that it is Hamas that is blocking the deal. The report quoted a source as saying that the agreement from Hamas “will allow to close the deal”. It has been reported that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, has been resisting any deal and is using the Palestinians' suffering to fuel the conflict with the idea that the more they suffer, the more Israel will be isolated internationally and the more it will drive the movement against Israel.

Nothing new in revised US proposal, says Hamas

Even as the United States is working to bridge the gap to strike a deal, a senior Hamas official has dismissed the revised proposal.

Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based senior Hamas terrorist leader, confirmed to the AFP news agency that the group had received the revised proposal on June 24. He said there was “nothing new” in the proposal. He further said that “there is no real progress” in the negotiations so far.

Hamdan said the proposals were “merely a waste of time and provide additional time for the occupation [Israel] to practise genocide”, as per the agency.

Hamas was being pressured to accept the proposal endorsed by Israel “as it is without modification”, said Hamdan.