Israel-Hamas War: Biden and Leaders of Egypt and Qatar to Offer ‘Final’ Cease-Fire Deal Next Week

“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay,” the three leaders said in the statement. “It is time to release the hostages, begin the cease-fire and implement this agreement. As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties.”

Cease-fire talks have been on hold after a meeting last weekend in Cairo produced no breakthrough, and the process has been complicated by the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who had been leading the negotiations through intermediaries. Mr. Biden has expressed frustration at Israel’s decision to carry out the operation that killed Mr. Haniyeh in Iran at a time when the president had hoped the cease-fire talks were close to success.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel indicated minutes after the joint statement by Mr. Biden and the other leaders that he would agree to the meeting. “In the wake of the offer by the United States and the mediators, Israel will send the negotiating delegation on Aug. 15 to whichever place is decided upon, so as to agree upon the details for the implementation of the framework deal,” his office said in a statement.

But it is not clear how willing Mr. Netanyahu is to reach a deal. His own security officials have privately complained that the prime minister is holding up talks by, among other things, reintroducing a demand that had been softened by his negotiators. The prime minister has, in turn, accused his security officials of being bad negotiators.

Nor is it clear that Hamas is ready or able to make an agreement. The group did not immediately respond to the joint statement by Mr. Biden and the others, and it remained uncertain who would show up for negotiations now that Mr. Haniyeh is dead even if the group does return to the table.

Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, to replace Mr. Haniyeh, but he is believed to be hiding in Gaza and not easily or quickly reached by intermediaries. Even while Mr. Haniyeh was alive, Mr. Sinwar was said to be the one calling the shots from his sanctuary, and no one expects him to emerge publicly.

A senior Biden administration official said that the joint statement arose out of discussions this week among the president, Mr. el-Sisi and Mr. al-Thani. The official did not describe what a “final bridging proposal” would look like, but said that the framework agreement already on the table could be finalized, with some concessions on details, like the sequencing of releases of hostages and prisoners.

The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said there were four or five issues that needed to be resolved to complete the cease-fire agreement, and added that they could be managed if there were sufficient will on both sides. But he cautioned that the meeting next Thursday, should it happen, would only resume the negotiating process and warned against expecting the agreement to be wrapped up that day.

In a statement of its own, an Israeli body representing the families of many of those abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks welcomed the call by Mr. Biden and the other leaders. Around 115 hostages remain in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities.

“This recent statement reaffirms what we’ve long known: A deal is the only path to bring all hostages home,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. “Time is running out. The hostages have no more time to spare. A deal must be signed now!”

The U.S.-led push to renew talks comes at a moment of high tension in the region because of the assassination of Mr. Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah figure in Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to retaliate against Israel, and the United States has ordered more warships and aircraft to deploy to the region to help defend its ally against any such attacks.

Mr. Biden met in the Oval Office on Thursday with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and other officials to review military preparations, and his team repeated the U.S. determination to stand by Israel. At the same time, Mr. Biden and his advisers have urged Israel to think twice about an expansive counter-retaliation that could escalate into a regional war.

Mr. Austin said that he had called Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, on Thursday to “reinforce my ironclad support” against any attack. “The U.S. F-22 Raptors that arrived in the region today represent one of many efforts to deter aggression, defend Israel and protect U.S. forces in the region,” Mr. Austin wrote on social media. “I also stressed the importance of concluding a cease-fire deal in Gaza that releases the hostages.”

U.S. officials in recent days have expressed tentative optimism that any action taken by either side may yet be relatively measured, allowing various players to save face without triggering a more explosive conflict. But if that does not bear out, then it could make any return to the bargaining table next week problematic, at least.

Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.

The attacks in the school compounds were among a series of Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday that killed at least 40 people and left several others critically injured, the Civil Defense said.

Israel has conducted strikes against school buildings and complexes being used as shelters for displaced people in Gaza in recent weeks, arguing that Hamas fighters are operating on the premises. The United Nations Human Rights Office on Tuesday expressed “horror” over what it called an “escalating pattern” of such attacks, saying that more than 160 displaced Palestinians, including women and children, had been killed in 17 strikes on schools turned shelters over the past month.

The United Nations has acknowledged that armed groups embedding with civilians or using civilians as shields violate international humanitarian law. But that “does not negate Israel’s obligation to comply strictly” with the law, the organization said on Tuesday, “including the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution when carrying out military operations.”

An Israeli strike on Al Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday also killed 15 people, the Civil Defense said, adding that strikes elsewhere across the strip, including near the Nuseirat camp and near the southern city of Khan Younis, killed at least a dozen others. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it had transported 14 injured people, including some who were seriously wounded, to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after a strike on Deir al Balah, but said the hospital was so overcrowded that several patients had to be transferred to a field hospital.

The continued fighting in Gaza is happening against the backdrop of fears of a wider war in the Middle East, as the region braces for retaliations following the assassinations last week of a Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, and the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

Israel claimed responsibility for targeting Mr. Shukr and is widely viewed as responsible for the killing of Mr. Haniyeh, though it has not officially claimed credit. Iran and its proxies — including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — have all vowed to retaliate, setting off an international diplomatic scramble to avert a wider war.

There are fears that the assassinations have jeopardized a potential cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza and lead to the return of 115 hostages — alive and dead — who have been held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

In Gaza, fierce fighting continued, and civilians were ordered to evacuate areas that they had fled before. The Israeli military again ordered parts of southern Gaza around Khan Younis to be evacuated on Thursday, continuing a cycle of displacement for many Palestinians. Evacuation orders are usually preludes to Israeli military operations, and the military said it intended to “act forcefully” against Hamas fighters who had been firing rockets at Israel from the area.

Initial estimates indicated that more than 15,500 people were living in the areas that came under fresh evacuation orders, the United Nations said. Photos showed streams of people of all ages walking while laden with bags and belongings — bedding and supplies balanced on heads and shoulders — small children held in their parents’ arms and others in overloaded strollers.

The U.N. has estimated that around 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced since the war began, many of them multiple times. Many now live in tents in overcrowded parts of central Gaza, where finding enough food and clean water can be a daily struggle.

Suzan Abu Daqqa, 59, fled her house in Abasan al-Kabira, a suburb of Khan Younis, on Thursday for at least the third time, joining the tide of people seeking to escape a feared Israeli advance. The last time Israel ordered an evacuation, she had stayed in her home with older relatives, hoping the Israeli offensive would not reach them. This time, a shell landed on Thursday not far from her house, which was struck by a piece of shrapnel, she said.

Gathering her relatives, Ms. Abu Daqqa left for her husband’s family’s home in western Khan Younis, near a major hospital belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. “There were displaced people everywhere, walking on their feet, from Abasan all the way to Khan Younis,” said Ms. Abu Daqqa, who had been driving.

“Where can we go?” she added, sounding exhausted. “We don’t want to be in tents.”

Anushka Patil contributed reporting.

A statement from Norway’s minister of foreign affairs, Espen Barth Eide, called the Israeli move an “extreme action.”

Many European countries, including Norway, maintain both an embassy in Tel Aviv and separate envoys based in Jerusalem or Ramallah who work with Palestinian officials. Mr. Eide said that Israel’s decision “first and foremost affects our ability to help the Palestinian population” and that “it shows once again that the Netanyahu government is actively working against a two-state solution.”

He added that the Israeli government’s decision “would have consequences” and that Norway was considering what measures to take in response, noting that “obstructing diplomats in their work is serious.”

“Norway is and will always be a friend of Israel and the Israeli people,” Mr. Eide said, but has been “clear in its criticism” of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. Norway’s “main priority is to work for peace and a diplomatic solution to the conflicts in the Middle East,” he added.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles, expressed his “full solidarity” with Norway and “strongly” condemned Israel’s revocation of the diplomatic status for Norwegians working with the Palestinian Authority. (Norway is not an E.U. member state but is in the Schengen area of nations that abolished mutual border controls.)

Mr. Borrell said Mr. Eide had called him after learning of Israel’s decision and that he had then instructed the head of the E.U. delegation in Tel Aviv to convey the bloc’s opposition to the move. “This is not a bilateral question between Israel and Norway, but one of interest for all those working for peace and stability in the Middle East,” Mr. Borrell said, noting that Norway had played a major role on the Middle Eastern peace process and in support of the Palestinians.

Many countries have recognized a Palestinian state over recent decades. And Spain and Ireland did so on the same day as Norway this year. However, Norway’s announcement was seen as particularly significant because the country had hosted the clandestine meetings in 1993 that led to the Oslo Accords, a framework for peace that seemed to come close to resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but ultimately failed.

Jonas Gahr Store, Norway’s prime minister, said in May that recognizing the Palestinian state lent “support to moderate forces that are on the defensive, in a long and gruesome conflict,” and is “an investment in the only solution that can give lasting peace in the Middle East.”

In a post on social media responding to the Israeli diplomatic slap on Thursday, Norway’s foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to the peace it has long sought for Israelis and Palestinians, saying, “Norway will not be deterred from working for a #TwoStateSolution.”

Ms. Singh added that three of the five had been transferred to a medical center in Germany for additional treatment, and that the other two — a contractor and a service member — had returned to work.

The rocket attack this week resembled previous strikes carried out by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups, which have targeted the base repeatedly over the past years but intensified their strikes after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that set off the war in Gaza.

The base had been targeted at least twice in recent weeks. There was also an attack late last month on a small U.S. base in eastern Syria where U.S. special operation forces work with Syrian Kurdish troops against the Islamic State.

The attack on Monday stoked concerns of a widening conflict in a region that is already on edge. The strike came as tensions were running especially high amid expectations of imminent retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah for the killings last week of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah commander, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.

Israel claimed responsibility for Mr. Shukr’s death. It has not claimed to be behind the assassination of Mr. Haniyeh in Iran, but is widely believed to be responsible. Iran and its proxy forces — including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militants in Iraq — have vowed to respond.

It was not clear if the Monday strike was part of that response or a continuation of ongoing efforts by Iran-backed groups in Iraq to target U.S. forces stationed there at the invitation of the Iraqi government, in an attempt to force American troops out of the country.

— Helene Cooper contributed reporting.

Speculation over how Iran and Hezbollah might respond has kept the region on edge for days, with all sides issuing threats that have raised the specter of a wider war, and diplomats across the Middle East and elsewhere scrambling to tamp down the tensions.

Israel’s leaders have sought to project confidence, saying they are ready for anything. The country’s security council convened on Thursday night in a command bunker in Tel Aviv to discuss preparations for the anticipated retaliation.

Intelligence has been sparse and frequently changing. But two Israeli officials and a senior Western intelligence official said that based on the latest information, Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group, is likely to strike first in a separate attack before Iran conducts its own retaliation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The officials did not provide further details about the potential Iranian-led attack.

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, vowed in an address following Mr. Shukr’s death that the group’s response to the killing of Mr. Shukr would be severe.

“Let the enemy, and those who stand behind them, await our inevitable response,” said Mr. Nasrallah. “We are looking for a true response, not a superficial one,” he added.

Israel and Iran last reached a similar crossroads in April in the wake of an Israeli strike that killed senior Iranian generals in Syria. But in that case, Iran’s intentions were telegraphed well in advance. It fired roughly 300 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, which intercepted most of the munitions with help from the United States and its allies.

Israeli officials say they are ready for any potential attack by Iran and its proxies. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told soldiers that Israel was “prepared for defense, as well as offense.”

“We are striking our enemies and determined to defend ourselves,” he said.

Military analysts say, however, that Israel is better prepared for some scenarios than for others.

Since the 1990s, Israel has built a vaunted defense apparatus to protect its citizens from aerial attack. Aided by billions in American aid, the country invested in advanced antimissile systems, while regulations stipulated that reinforced bomb shelters be built in houses and apartment buildings.

In the event of another barrage of ballistic missiles, Israeli troops would most likely fire long-range Arrow interceptors designed to take them out above the earth’s atmosphere. Another system, the Iron Dome, would mostly shoot down short-range missiles launched from Lebanon or Gaza.

But Iran and Hezbollah could fire enough munitions to overwhelm Israel’s defenses. They could also fire swarms of drones, which fly at low altitudes on unpredictable trajectories and leave little radar signature, making tracking and destroying them far more difficult.

In April, the United States and Israel assembled a coalition that worked with Britain, France and Jordan, among others, to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones before they reached Israeli territory. It was unclear whether Israel’s allies in the Middle East would be willing to work as closely with it this time around.

On Friday, the United States said it had ordered more combat aircraft and warships capable of shooting down missiles and drones to the Middle East in response to the threats from Iran and its allies.

In preparation this week, the Israeli Home Front Command sent search-and-rescue battalions to Haifa, Tel Aviv and other cities in case there are strikes on civilian centers. Residents have been told to stock up on food and water and limit their activities. In northern Israel, near Lebanon, outdoor gatherings are restricted to 30 people, and beaches are closed.

Ephrat Livni contributed reporting.