US envoy tells UN: Gaza ceasefire deal 'now is in sight'

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal "now is in sight," the U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday, urging members to press Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a bridging proposal agreed to by Israel.

Months of on-off talks have circled the same issues, but Israel and Hamas have stuck to their demands.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a bridging proposal put forward last week by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt was consistent with a plan outlined by President Joe Biden in May and endorsed by the Security Council in June.

"Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same," she told the council. "As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal."

Disagreements over Israel's future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a deal, sources familiar with talks told Reuters, stemming from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted Biden's May proposal.

"It's a decisive moment for ceasefire talks and for the region, and so every member of this council should continue to send strong messages to other actors in the region to avoid actions that would move us away from finalizing this deal," said Thomas-Greenfield.

The conflict in Gaza put the entire Middle East region on edge, triggering months of border clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and threatening a wider escalation drawing in major powers.

Iran has also vowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the killing.

"There's very real danger of regional escalation," Thomas-Greenfield said. "So let us do everything in our power to get this ceasefire and hostage release deal over the finish line now."

The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's military has leveled swathes of the Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Katharine Jackson and David Gregorio)