US ready to present Israel with ultimatum for Gaza ceasefire deal: report

The US will offer Israel a "take it or leave it" ceasefire deal for Gaza, The Washington Post has reported, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces domestic pressure to agree a truce that would bring Israeli captives home.

A senior US official said that Washington is in discussions with their Egyptian and Qatari counterparts about a proposed deal to be presented to Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the coming weeks.  

They added that if both sides fail to accept the proposal, it could signal the end of the US-led negotiations. 

US President Joe Biden’s push for a truce deal has been recently pressed further, after Israel’s recovery of the bodies of six captives, including an American citizen. 

"You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point," the senior official told The Washington Post. 

They also emphasised that all three mediators - the US, Egypt and Qatar - had prepared a final proposal to end the 11-month war prior to the captives’ deaths. 

"Does [their deaths] derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in," the official said.

This follows a report in The Washington Post last week that the US was negotiating the final details of a "bridging proposal" aimed at resolving remaining differences between Israel and Hamas. 

The unnamed senior official told the daily that last week's discussions focused primarily on which captives would be exchanged for specific Palestinian captives held in Israel, some of whom have been detained without trial. 

The first phase of the exchange would involve women, the elderly, and those who are ill or wounded.  

This group included Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old American-Israeli who was among the six dead captives and whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month.  

The list also consisted of two Israeli women, Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi, whose bodies were also recovered by Israeli forces on Saturday, according to the senior official.

Israeli coroners say they, along with the other four captives, were shot dead, sparking mass protests and a general strike in Israel.

Hamas has previously come forward with information on a captive being killed by their guard and said other hostages who have died in captivity lost their lives due to Israeli bombing.

The New Arab could not verify the latest information.

The White House announced on Monday that Biden will sit with US negotiators to continue pushing for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the 11-month war on Gaza. 

President Biden's official schedule was revised to accommodate a White House meeting, which will also be attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed him in the November presidential election. 

A statement announcing the updated schedule noted that Biden and Harris are scheduled to meet on Monday "with the US hostage deal negotiating team following the murder of American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas on Saturday and discuss efforts to drive towards a deal that secures the release of the remaining hostages".

During a one-week truce in November, scores of hostages were released, leading campaigners and family members to believe that a similar deal is the best way to secure the return of those Israelis still held captive. 

A nationwide strike in Israel, aimed at increasing pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining captives, was scheduled to begin on Monday. 

However, the strike, called by Israel’s largest union, was later put to a halt by an Israeli labour court in Tel Aviv, after the court said the union was only authorised to call for strikes related to economic issues and workers’ rights and not over political factors. 

Relatives of the hostages and advocates have criticised the Netanyahu administration for not doing enough to bring the captives back alive and are calling for an immediate ceasefire to release those still in captivity.  

Months of protests by families of the captives have highlighted the deep divisions within Israel over Prime Minister Netanyahu's approach to securing a ceasefire deal. 

Despite mounting pressure from his own Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with senior generals and intelligence officials, Netanyahu has remained firm on keeping Israeli troops stationed at key points in the Gaza Strip following any ceasefire. 

Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence, and despite the ongoing efforts of Egyptian and Qatari diplomats, along with multiple visits by senior US officials to the region urging a deal, no breakthrough has been made in talks to end the fighting and secure the hostages' release. 

Hamas captured 253 hostages during the October 7 attacks on Israeli communities, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and foreigners. 

Meanwhile, the relentless Israeli assault on Gaza has devastated the area and resulted in the deaths of over 40,600 Palestinians.