The United States continues to collaborate with mediators from Egypt and Qatar to draft a revised ceasefire proposal for the ongoing conflict in Gaza, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, according to Reuters.
For weeks, officials have stated that a new proposal was imminent, aiming to secure a deal that would include the release of hostages taken by Hamas from Israel on October 7.
Miller informed reporters that Washington is actively working with the mediators to shape the contents of the proposal, adding that "it's a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement."
"I don't have a timetable for you other than to say that we are working expeditiously to try to develop that proposal," said Miller.
The United States has been pushing an outline for a ceasefire and hostage release deal that President Joe Biden first laid out in May, but Hamas has continuously rejected every proposal that has been presented to it.
Last week, Hamas once again said that its negotiators reiterated the group’s readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous US proposal without new conditions from any party.
Miller said on Monday that the primary obstacles to the deal remain Israel's insistence on maintaining forces in the Philadelphi corridor, and the specifics of an exchange involving hostages and terrorist prisoners held by Israel.
His comments are in line with ones made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who last week downplayed pessimism over the prospects of a hostage release deal, saying that the US will present a new proposal for a deal “very soon”.
“On the ceasefire, here’s what I can tell you: More than 90 percent of the issues have been agreed, decided. So we’re down to a handful of issues – not even a handful of issues – that are hard but fully resolvable, in our judgment. And as we’ve said before, when you get down to the last 10 percent, the last 10 meters, those are, almost by definition, the hardest ground to cover. But we believe that these are fully resolvable,” Blinken told reporters.
“Right now, we’re working intensely with our Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to work together to bridge any remaining gaps. And in the coming time, very soon, we’ll put that before the parties and we’ll see what they say,” he added.