The leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar urged Israel and Hamas to resume emergency negotiations to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages, saying “no party has an excuse for further delay.”
The three countries, who have been trying to broker the deal, said in a joint statement that talks could take place in Doha or Cairo on August 15, adding that “it is time to bring immediate relief to both the long-suffering people of Gaza and to the hostages and their families.”
“A framework agreement is currently under consideration and only implementation details remain to be worked out,” the leaders said, proposing to present a “final bridging proposal” to resolve remaining issues.
Shortly after the statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli negotiators would be in attendance, with the aim of “finalizing the details and implementing the framework agreement,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The statement came after the Israeli army renewed its evacuation orders for Palestinian residents of several neighborhoods in the eastern city of Khan Yunis and said it would take strong action against militants firing rockets from those areas.
The army said it had ordered X to evacuate and that residents in southern Gaza had received text and voice messages.
Residents said dozens of families had left their homes and started heading west towards Al Mawashi, which has been designated a humanitarian zone but is crowded with families fleeing from surrounding areas.
Gaza’s second largest city, Khan Yunis, suffered widespread destruction in air and ground operations earlier this year.
Tensions in the region have risen since the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, an attack that Tehran blames on Israel, raising fears of retaliation and a wider regional conflict.
A senior U.S. official said the joint statement by the leaders of the United States, Qatar and Egypt was not intended to influence Iran, but that a escalation could jeopardize Israel and Hamas’ hopes of reaching a deal.
The official said a ceasefire agreement is unlikely to be reached before next week because of serious issues, including the order of exchanges between Hamas and Israel. Moves from both sides are needed, the official said.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
