Jerusalem delivered an updated Gaza ceasefire proposal to the United States on Saturday, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official and two other sources with knowledge of the issue.
According to the official, Israel is calling for a foreign mechanism to ensure that terrorists and weapons cannot move from the southern Gaza Strip to the north of the territory. The updated proposal also includes changes to redeployment of Israeli forces in the first phase of the agreement, as well as a demand that the military remain in control of the 8.7-mile Gaza-Egypt border area, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, during this stage.
Jerusalem maintains that control of the Philadelphi Corridor is critical to ensuring Hamas does not rearm and rebuild via smuggling tunnels to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. During its months-long operation in Rafah and along the border zone, the IDF has uncovered many tunnels running under the corridor.
The updated Israeli proposal comes ahead of another round of multilateral negotiations on an agreement, with Mossad director David Barnea departing for Rome on Sunday morning for the summit.
CIA director Bill Burns, the Prime Minister of Qatar Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani and the head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel will also be in the Italian capital to discuss the hostage deal.
The Rome gathering also comes after U.S. President Joe Biden told family members of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza that he will continue pushing for a deal during his remaining time in office.
According to the relatives, they left last week’s meeting at the White House with Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feeling optimistic about prospects for an agreement.
“What we did find by the end of the meeting, which was productive and honest, is that we feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November, early December,” when hostages were released as part of a ceasefire, said Jonathan Dekel-Chen.
Dekel-Chen’s 35-year-old son Sagui is being held in Gaza. The Dekel-Chen family is one of six families of U.S. hostages in Gaza that participated in the July 25 meeting.
Adi and Yael Alexander (parents of Edan Alexander); Ruby and Hagit Chen (parents of Itay Chen); Ronen and Orna Neutra (parents of Omer Neutra); Liz Naftali (great-aunt of Abigail Mor Edan); Aviva Siegel and Elan Tiv Siegel (wife and daughter, respectively, of Keith Siegel); and Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg (parents of Hersch Goldberg-Polin) were the other participants, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
“We got an absolute commitment from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now, to waste no time and to complete this deal as it currently stands, with as little change as humanly possible,” Dekel-Chen told reporters.
