White House 'cautiously optimistic' after Hamas presents cease-fire proposal

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House struck a note of guarded optimism Friday after Hamas presented a proposal for securing a cease-fire in the besieged Gaza Strip.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the proposal "is certainly within the bounds of, in broad brushstrokes, within the bounds of the deal that we've been working on now for several months."

"The fact that there's another delegation now heading to Doha, the fact that this proposal is out there that there are conversations about it. That's all good," he told reporters. "We're cautiously optimistic that things are moving in a good direction, but that doesn't mean that it's done, and we're gonna have to stay at this till the very, very end."

Hamas has presented mediators from Qatar and Egypt with a three-phase plan for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and a hostage swap deal, a well-placed Palestinian source told Anadolu earlier Friday.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hamas' proposal is made up of three stages, each lasting for six weeks.

"The first stage entails the withdrawal of Israeli forces from different cities’ centers, as well as from Rasheed (coastal road) and (central road) Salah al-Din streets to allow for the return of displaced people and the delivery of aid,'' the source added.

The source noted that the second stage involves the release of Israeli women, children, and elderly hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the release of over 700 Palestinian inmates from Israeli jails.

The third stage would involve the release of Israeli soldiers who have been captured in Gaza, with a permanent cease-fire to be announced before the exchange of soldiers begins.

Hamas proposed to Israel the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of whom are serving life sentences, in exchange for each female Israeli soldier currently held captive.

- Rafah invasion plan

More than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 73,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Friday approved plans for an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where roughly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have been seeking refuge.

Kirby said the US has not seen any such plans yet, but would "welcome an opportunity to look at that plan." He maintained that Washington would not "get behind a plan that doesn't properly account for those million-and-a-half refugees in Gaza who need a place to go, where they can be saved from the from the fighting."

"We can't support a major offensive in Rafah that doesn't also include a credible, achievable, executable plan to take care for the safety and security of the more than a million Palestinians that are seeking refuge in Rafah," he said.