Axios: Qatar and the US Prepare a New Proposal for Ceasefire in Gaza

SadaNews - The American Axios website reported that Qatar and the United States are working on drafting a new ceasefire agreement proposal for the Gaza Strip, which will be presented to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel within two weeks.

The site stated that the U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff, will meet today, Saturday, in Spain with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, to discuss a plan to end the war in Gaza and release the detainees.

The American site quoted an Israeli official as saying, "The government of Benjamin Netanyahu does not oppose working towards a final plan with the United States, but Hamas will not accept it," according to his statement.

He noted that the gap between Israel and Hamas regarding the end of the war is "huge", and emphasized that discussions about a comprehensive agreement are now "futile".

The Israeli official stated that the plan approved by the Security Cabinet (the Cabinet) yesterday to occupy Gaza "will not be implemented immediately", pointing out that no timeline has been set for the start of the plan's implementation, "which allows time to reach a diplomatic solution".

The official confirmed that "Netanyahu has left the door ajar for halting the operation in Gaza if negotiations for an agreement are resumed".

On Friday morning, the Israeli Cabinet approved a gradual plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with the occupation of Gaza City by displacing its population of nearly one million towards the south, then surrounding the city and carrying out incursions into residential gathering centers.

According to United Nations data, 87% of the area of the Strip is already under Israeli occupation or subject to evacuation orders, warning that any new military expansion will have "catastrophic repercussions".

Over the course of 22 months of the genocidal war on Gaza, several rounds of indirect negotiations took place between Hamas and Israel regarding halting the war and exchanging prisoners, mediated mainly by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.

During this period, two ceasefire agreements were reached, the first in November 2023 and the second in January 2025, which included partial agreements for prisoner exchanges, before Israel reneged on the last agreement and resumed its war on Gaza on March 18 of last year.