On Friday mediators said it presented a bridging proposal to both parties consistent with the plan laid out by Biden. This proposal builds on areas of agreement and bridges remaining gaps, that allow for a swift implementation of the 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 in Gaza from spreading into a wider regional conflict 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 were hoping 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, French Foreign Minister Stephane 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.
White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby called the talks an important step. He said a lot of work remains given the complexity of the agreement and that negotiators were focusing on its implementation.
The war began when Hamas-led terrorists 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.
