Some 17 countries, including the US, issued a joint statement on Thursday backing the latest proposal for the release of the remaining 124 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“There is no time to lose,” said the statement issued by countries whose citizens are among the captives.“We call on Hamas to close this agreement, that Israel is ready to move forward with, and begin the process of releasing our citizens,” the statement said.
Its issuance is part of a massive global diplomatic initiative US President Joe Biden set in motion on May 31 when he unveiled a three-phase proposal which he and his administration officials have said has Israel’s approval.
The deal allows for the release of humanitarian hostages in its first six weeks in exchange for a lull to the war. It also outlines a negotiating process that could bring about an end to the war and the release of all the hostages, as well as set the stage for day-after plans and the reconstruction of Gaza.
“We note that this agreement would lead to an immediate ceasefire and rehabilitation of Gaza together with security assurances for Israelis and Palestinians, and opportunities for a more enduring long-term peace and a two-state solution,” the statement read.
“At this decisive moment, we call on the leaders of Israel as well as Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close this deal and bring relief to the families of our hostages, as well as those on both sides of this terrible conflict, including the civilian populations.
“It is time for the war to end, and this deal is the necessary starting point,” they added.
Those nations that signed the letter were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Mediators try to close the deal
The G7 and the European Union have also backed the deal. CIA Director William Burns and US special envoy Brett McGurk were in the region to work on Thursday with mediating countries — Egypt and Qatar— to help close the deal.
Talks involving the Qatari, Egyptian, and US mediators have shown no sign of a breakthrough, two Egyptian security sources said.
Burns on Wednesday met senior officials from Qatar and Egypt in Doha.
The talks in Qatar were aimed at finding a formula that could reassure Hamas over its demand for guarantees that the deal would deliver a complete cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory, the Egyptian sources said.
Hamas expressed concerns about some provisions of the proposal, especially the second phase, the sources added.
According to a summary of the plan published by the White House, the second phase includes a permanent end to hostilities as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The Egyptian sources said that Qatari and Egyptian mediators had met separately with Hamas and US officials in Doha. They said there was no indication a deal was close to being reached.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that the group would "deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive ending of the aggression and the complete withdrawal and prisoners swap.”
Israel said there would be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks as it mounted a new assault on a central section of the Gaza Strip.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Thursday that while the group welcomed what he called "Biden's ideas," the US draft resolution at the UN Security Council was dependent on an Israeli ceasefire proposal Hamas had seen and had rejected.
"The (US) document...has no mention of ending the aggression or the withdrawal," he said.
"The Israeli documents speak of open-ended negotiation with no deadline, and it speaks of a stage during which the occupation regains its hostages and resumes the war. We had told the mediators that such a paper wasn't acceptable to us," said Abu Zuhri.
He said Hamas was committed to its May 5 proposal, which was based on an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal, a swap deal, and a lifting of the restrictions on goods into the enclave.