Hamas officials were still evaluating the framework for a proposal to stop fighting in the Gaza Strip and free Israeli hostages who have been held captive for almost four months, a broadcaster affiliated with the group said Sunday, a week after negotiators will formulate the proposal.
The broadcaster,
Al-Aqsa
, reported that Hamas was still holding consultations on the proposal.
The group's leaders had previously noted that substantial differences remained between the two sides, even as representatives from the
United States, Egypt and Qatar
sought common ground.
Jake Sullivan
, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "the ball is in Hamas's court."
An agreement that frees the hostages, ends the fighting and allows humanitarian aid to reach Gaza is of "
paramount
" importance, he added.
An image taken from southern Israel, on the border with the Gaza Strip, on December 27, 2023, shows destroyed buildings in northern Gaza following Israeli shelling amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the militant group Palestinian Hamas.
(Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
"We're going to push for it relentlessly, as the president has done, including recently in calls with the leaders of
Egypt and Qatar,
the two countries that are our central intermediaries in this effort," Sullivan said.
Various fronts
The Hamas-led attacks of October 7, in which Israeli authorities say some
1,200 people
were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, prompted a harsh military response from Israel and triggered a broader crisis in the East. Next.
Israel has exchanged fire with members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi militia that controls part of Yemen has fired on ships traveling to and from the Suez Canal.
Other Iranian-backed militants have launched attacks on US bases in the region, including a recent one that killed three US soldiers in Jordan.
The United States has responded to the Houthi attacks with repeated strikes, including the one on Sunday, and to
Jordan
's attack with another series of military strikes this weekend against Iranian forces and the militias they support in seven locations in Syria and Iraq.
Senior US national security officials said on Sunday that
further retaliation
against Iranian-backed militias was still planned.
But Sullivan said he believed those efforts were a
separate issue
from talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement that has eluded both sides since a weeklong pause in November.
"We believe that the steps we took on Friday and the steps we took against the Houthis last night are not related to the hostage negotiations," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"And we believe that now, at this moment, it is up to Hamas to come forward and respond to what is a serious proposal."
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