Qatar, Egypt and the United States have called on Israel and Hamas to resume talks to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as Israelโs continued bombardment of the territory has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians and raised fears of further regional escalation.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the three countries urged Israel and Hamas โto resume urgent discussionโ on August 15 in Doha or Cairo โto close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delayโ.
โIt is the time to conclude a ceasefire agreement and release hostages and prisoners,โ they said.
โWe have worked for months to reach framework agreement and it is now on the table, with only details of implementation missing.โ
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuโs office quickly responded to the call, saying in a statement that Israel would send a delegation to attend talks next week โin order to finalise the details and implement the framework agreementโ.
Hamas, the Palestinian political faction that governs Gaza, has yet to respond.
The joint statement comes amid months of failed attempts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israelโs military assault has killed at least 39,699 Palestinians and injured 91,722 others since early October.
The recent killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital of Tehran โ widely believed to have been carried out by Israel โ also spurred questions about the prospect of continued ceasefire negotiations.
The assassination of Haniyeh โ who had been a key figure in the talks โ was seen by many as an effort by Netanyahuโs government to scuttle efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera correspondent Hamdah Salhut said the circumstances of Haniyehโs death will add to the complexity of any future negotiations.
โThere are a lot of moving parts here,โ she said, pointing to the risk of a โretaliatory attackโ from Iran or one of its proxies.
โAdditionally, we have to remember that the Israelis are now going to be negotiating with Yahya Sinwar, who is the new political leader of Hamas,โ Salhut added, referring to Haniyehโs replacement.
โHeโs considered a hardliner. Benjamin Netanyahu is considered a hardliner. Heโs gone into these negotiations previously with several non-negotiables and has added to that list.โ
Still, in Thursdayโs statement, Qatar, Egypt and the US said it is โtime to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their familiesโ.
โThere is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay,โ the countries said.
The statement was undersigned by US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatarโs Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeeraโs senior political analyst, said the statement shows the mediating nations are running out of patience.
โThe US is being pushed to exert greater pressure due to the threat of a wider regional war,โ Bishara explained.
โI think the idea here is that theyโre going to go back to the table, come August 15, and both Hamas and Israel would be looking at hammering the details,โ he said.
Bishara said many details are still unclear, including which Palestinian prisoners and captives held in Gaza would be released in the first phase of the deal โ and how many.
But said the mediating nations believe they โhave a good framework agreement now for a three-stage ceasefire agreementโ.
โI think this is more or less a call for action, a call for urgency โ to act quicker than before.โ
Ariel Gold, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a US-based non-violence group, said Thursdayโs statement is not yet cause for celebration.
โWe have in many ways been here before,โ Gold told Al Jazeera, noting that President Bidenโs administration has โmany times [said] that we are at the final stretchโ of negotiations.
Gold said Biden, who has provided staunch military and diplomatic support to Israel amid the war, should make it clear to Netanyahu that there will be โa real, definitive consequence for refusing this ceasefire dealโ.
For months, Palestinian rights advocates in the US have urged Biden to stop sending weapons to Israel as the war drags on.
Rami Khouri, a professor at the American University of Beirut, said the timing of the statement is likely a reflection of the pressures Biden is facing.
โWhy the 15th?โ Khouri asked, referencing the date in the joint statement to restart negotiations. โI think itโs because the two most desperate people in the world now for a ceasefire, other than the Palestinians, are Kamala Harris and Genocide Joe Biden, as he is well known in the US.โ
Khouri pointed out that August 15 comes mere days before the Democrats are set to hold their national convention in Chicago, Illinois. The ongoing fighting in Gaza could spark discord and protest at the convention, which is designed as a platform for Harrisโs presidential campaign.
โTheyโre desperate to have this ceasefire happen,โ Khouri said, adding that โthe timing is unbelievably significantโ.
