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the wall street journal released an exclusive report on the 19th local time saying that senior us officials privately admitted that they do not expect israel and the palestinian islamic resistance movement (hamas) to reach a ceasefire agreement before the end of president biden's term.

on the same day, the times of israel quoted the israeli public broadcasting corporation (kan) as saying that israel had proposed to the united states an agreement on a ceasefire in the gaza strip and the exchange of detained persons, but other conditions included hamas giving up its control over gaza. the resolution was rejected by hamas.

israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a tunnel in rafa, gaza, september 13, 2024, local time.

the wall street journal said that the us government will not stop seeking to reach an agreement and still believes that this is the only way to end the israeli-palestinian conflict, but some senior officials of the white house, state department and department of defense believe that the warring parties will not agree to the current framework of the ceasefire agreement.

"no deal is going to be imminent, and i'm not even sure it can be done," said one u.s. official.

there are two main reasons for washington officials' pessimistic forecasts:

one is that hamas demands that israel release a certain percentage of palestinian prisoners in exchange for the return of israeli detainees. this has become the main crux of the negotiations between the two sides, especially after the israeli army found the bodies of six detainees in rafah, gaza strip in early september. the recent multiple explosions of hezbollah's communication equipment have also made diplomacy with hamas more complicated.

as for the second point, biden administration officials put the blame on hamas, saying that after hamas proposed conditions and the united states and israel accepted them, hamas's "uncompromising attitude" of rejecting them frustrated the negotiators, who increasingly felt that the organization was not serious about completing the agreement. in addition, the report mentioned that israeli prime minister netanyahu was also accused by critics of undermining the negotiation process to appease the hard-line right wing within the government.

the report described that the atmosphere within the us government and in the middle east has been as "gloomy" as it has been in the past few months. to make matters worse, the israeli army launched a fierce airstrike on several hezbollah facilities in southern lebanon on the 19th. an arab official added after the incident: "there is no chance now. everyone is waiting and watching until the (us) election is over. the election results will determine what can happen during the next administration."

on september 19, 2024 local time, israel attacked the southern lebanese border village of mahmoudia, with thick smoke and flames at the scene.

according to us secretary of state blinken on september 5, 90% of the ceasefire proposal has been approved by israel and hamas. however, netanyahu later denied this to us media, saying that the ceasefire agreement "is not close to being reached."

the times of israel quoted the latest news from the hebrew media kan on the 19th that israel made a proposal when meeting with officials from the white house and the state department last week, promising to end military operations in gaza and release some detained palestinians in exchange for the release of all detained israeli personnel, but at the same time requiring hamas political bureau leader sinwar to leave gaza, demilitarize the gaza strip and establish an alternative management agency.

an israeli official confirmed the broad outlines of the report to the times of israel and said that gal hirsch, the israeli government's point person on detainees, had presented the plan to u.s. officials, who were expected to pass it on to unspecified arab officials.

an anonymous israeli official called this a "sub-plan," saying that considering the obstacles in the negotiations and the urgency of time, he hoped to "shorten the negotiation phase and speed up the process of reaching an agreement." "this will happen if sinwar leaves (gaza) and ends the war. this will allow us to achieve the goals of the war and allow the hamas leaders in gaza to leave and go to a safe place."

ghazi hamad, a member of the hamas political bureau, quickly rejected the proposal. "the proposal to allow sinwar to leave the country is absurd and shows that the negotiations with israel have collapsed." he said this confirmed israel's denial of the results of the past eight months of negotiations. "our people have made sacrifices, not just for the safety of one person to leave... we want to liberate our land, not leave it."

jihad taha, a senior hamas official, told the arabic version of the new arab that hamas refused to accept any agreement other than the ceasefire plan it received on july 2, which was based on biden's proposal and relevant un security council resolutions. it is reported that israel rejected the plan because netanyahu insisted on retaining israeli military forces stationed in the "philadelphia corridor" in the gaza strip.

speaking about the new israeli proposal, taha said: "we do not need new proposals or deals that serve (israel's) agenda, criminal plans and continued aggression."