The latest round of shuttle diplomacy started on December 28 and has narrowed disagreements about the length of an initial ceasefire to around 30 days, after Hamas had first sought a truce that would last several months, an official told Reuters.
A White House spokesman said on Tuesday U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in the region -- the second time in a week -- for discussions about releasing hostages and that Washington would support a longer “humanitarian pause.”
“We are open to all initiatives and proposals, but any agreement must be based on ending the aggression and the occupation’s complete pullout from Gaza Strip,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Monday.
One offer by Israel is to end the war if Hamas expels Yahya Sinwar and Mohamed al-Deif, who are Israel’s top targets to kill or capture following Hamas’s deadly cross-border rampage on October 7.
