The White House continued to press for its Gaza ceasefire proposal this week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Washington without having secured an agreement.
President Joe Biden announced yesterday that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the proposed deal. The White House says Biden “stressed the urgency” of bringing the deal to a close and discussed using negotiations in Egypt this week to work out the remaining obstacles to an agreement.
Despite pressure from the White House and reports of optimism from Washington, both Israeli and Hamas officials have expressed criticism of the proposed deal. Just this week, mediators from Egypt also appeared skeptical about the proposal, with one high-level official calling it “not acceptable for us and of course for Hamas.”
As it stands right now, the deal reportedly calls for a six-week end to fighting in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.