A senior official in President Joe Biden's administration revealed that "Israel is on the verge of accepting a proposal for a 6-week ceasefire in Gaza," according to the British newspaper "The Guardian." The report stated that the official said, "There is a framework agreement that Israel has more or less accepted which entails a ceasefire, to allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas and the entry of aid into the devastated sector."
He added that "negotiations have hit a snag due to Hamas not yet agreeing on a specific category of at-risk hostages, while Israel insists that ceasefire talks can only continue after Hamas submits a list including the names of the hostages, indicating who is alive and who has died."
He further stated that "despite this sticking point in the negotiations, there is optimism about the possibility of reaching an agreement with plans for a second phase to find a permanent solution."
U.S. officials mentioned that "talks to reach a ceasefire agreement by the month of Ramadan appear to be making progress, noting that any agreement depends on Hamas's reaction to talks held in Paris and Doha, involving Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and the United States."
"The Guardian" quoted a diplomatic source who told CNN that "more talks are scheduled to be held in Cairo, expected to involve negotiators from the U.S., Israel, Egypt, and Hamas, while Qatar's participation remains uncertain."
It explained that "the aid and repeated indications of progress in ceasefire talks come just days after the Michigan state elections, where over 100,000 voters from the swing state expressed their anger at the Biden administration's handling of the Gaza war by voting uncommitted in the state's Democratic primary."
