(Washington) The United States is leading an intense diplomatic campaign to rally support for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, the outcome of which is very uncertain eight months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Telephone calls to Arab leaders in particular, communicated in all directions including from the G7, draft resolution to the UN Security Council: American diplomacy has been set in motion to press Israeli leaders and the Palestinian Islamist movement to accept the terms of an agreement unveiled by President Joe Biden last Friday.
” There’s no time to lose. We call on Hamas to conclude this agreement,” the American president and 16 other leaders, mainly from Europe and Latin America, urged Thursday in a statement released by the White House.
They further call on “the leaders of Israel and Hamas to make the final necessary compromises” to reach an agreement.
If Washington clearly places primary responsibility for achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip ravaged by war since the beginning of October on Hamas, it is also putting pressure on Israel, whose government is divided.
The press release from these world leaders is unique in that it associates countries like Brazil and Colombia whose left-wing presidents have vigorously denounced the war led by Israel, launched after the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7.
The plan, which was submitted to Hamas last Thursday according to the Americans, broadly provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas, a ceasefire, an increase in humanitarian aid and long-term reconstruction. from Gaza.
A senior Hamas official said Thursday that the plan was not a “new proposal,” and Washington said it had not yet received a formal response from the movement.
Meanwhile, a hospital in the Gaza Strip reported at least 37 deaths in a bombing of a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), with the Israeli army claiming responsibility for the strike, which it said targeted “a Hamas base.”
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, who has visited the Middle East seven times since the start of the war, reached by telephone all his counterparts in the region, from Qatar to Egypt – these two countries are mediators in the ceasefire negotiations, with the United States –, via Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
At the same time, CIA chief William Burns visited the region for the umpteenth time this week and the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk, was received on Wednesday by the Egyptian authorities.
The White House was cautious on Thursday about the prospects of an agreement. “We are potentially close to reaching an agreement that could end this conflict, but it is not guaranteed,” Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said.
Meanwhile, Washington is active in the UN Security Council hoping, despite divisions and fears of a Russian veto, to have a draft resolution voted on calling for support for the agreement which is on the negotiating table. .
No vote has been scheduled but the United States hopes for one perhaps as early as Friday, a diplomatic source said.
The United States proposed a first outline of a draft resolution on Monday then circulated an amended version on Thursday to members of the Council, which AFP was able to consult.
In this new version, they detail the plan in three phases and “urge both parties to implement all of its provisions without delay and without conditions”. An initial version only mentioned Hamas, causing discomfort among certain delegations, according to diplomats.