"Last Chance" Washington is preparing a new proposal for a deal between Israel and Hamas

The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted Israeli and American officials as saying that Washington is preparing a new proposal, which it will present to Tel Aviv and mediators in the coming days, "despite its lack of optimism about concluding a deal soon." According to the officials, Washington called it "the last chance proposal."

Israeli and American officials said Saturday that Washington is "not optimistic" about reaching a prisoner exchange deal with Palestinian factions in Gaza, and according to the officials, the proposal may be presented today, Sunday, or within the next few days.

According to what officials told the official broadcasting authority, the American settlement proposal includes all the points of contention, most notably the Philadelphi Corridor between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

CIA Director William Burns said on Saturday that the United States is working with Qatar and Egypt on a new, more detailed proposal for a prisoner exchange deal and ceasefire in Gaza, noting that it will be presented to Hamas and Israel in the coming days.

A Palestinian source told the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, without mentioning his name, that negotiations "are now underway on the number of senior Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons who will be released as part of the potential deal, not on the total number of prisoners who will be released." The source said that Hamas has not changed the number of prisoners it is demanding to be released in the deal, and is sticking to its old conditions.

This comes at a time when the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza have reached a critical stage, due to the insistence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on continuing the war on the Strip, and not withdrawing from the Netzarim and Philadelphi axes in the center and south of the Strip, while Hamas insists on ending the war, returning the displaced, and the Israeli withdrawal from the entire Strip.

With American support, Israel is waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 135,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and deadly famine, as Israel continues this war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately and the orders of the International Court of Justice to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.