US, Israel to join new talks for short-term Gaza cease-fire

Negotiators are skeptical of a breakthrough in the talks, which are scheduled for Sunday in Doha. The region is bracing for Israel’s potential response to an Iranian ballistic-missile assault on Israeli territory earlier this month, amid concerns that it could spark a wider war, though the timing of any Israeli action remains unclear.

Still, Arab mediators believe the proposal put forward by Egypt for a short-term pause could open a window to a comprehensive deal, after weeks of deadlock. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns is scheduled to meet with the spy chiefs from Israel and Egypt, according to Arab mediators involved in the effort. Egyptian and Qatari officials are also expected to meet with Hamas, whose fighters are continuing to battle Israeli forces in Gaza and whose political leadership is based in Doha.

The renewed diplomatic push comes after a week of meetings between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli and Arab officials. Blinken rushed to the Middle East following the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was viewed by the U.S. as the main obstacle to a cease-fire. Blinken then met Friday in London with, among others, the caretaker prime minister in Lebanon.

Israel is fighting Iranian allies on multiple fronts, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Arab mediators fear that Hamas will be unwilling to fully commit to a cease-fire deal while Israel is still considering how to retaliate against Iran.

Cease-fire discussions largely collapsed in recent months as Israel and Hamas failed to agree to terms for a permanent end to fighting. Senior U.S. officials had privately acknowledged a deal likely wouldn’t come together before the end of President Biden’s term.

Now, Egypt is proposing a small-scale cease-fire in an effort to build momentum for a larger deal that ends the war, according to Arab mediators involved in the talks. The Egyptian proposal calls for the release of five hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a cease-fire of up to two weeks and the potential release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, according to mediators. The agreement could then be extended. A weeklong pause in the fighting in late 2023 led to the only large-scale release of hostages during the war.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he welcomed Egypt’s readiness to advance a deal for the release of the hostages and had directed the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, to travel to Doha.

U.S. officials are skeptical that a cease-fire deal can be reached before the end of the Biden administration, largely because Hamas is currently leaderless after Israel killed Sinwar. Hamas hasn’t moved to immediately appoint a successor to Sinwar, instead agreeing that a council of leaders inside and outside the Palestinian territories will make decisions until a new leader is elected, potentially next year, according to people familiar with the group.

The war in Gaza began in October last year when Hamas launched an attack against Israel that killed 1,200 people. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups also kidnapped around 250 hostages, and about 100 still remain in Gaza, with many of those feared dead. The Israeli military campaign has caused the deaths of more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to authorities in the strip, who don’t say how many were combatants.

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel a day after the Hamas-led attacks, and the Israeli military in recent weeks has intensified a campaign against the Lebanese militia. Israel has launched a ground operation to remove Hezbollah’s presence from Israel’s northern border and has mounted airstrikes that have killed the group’s leaders, leveling buildings in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

On Friday, an airstrike attributed to Israel hit a building in the Lebanese city of Hasbaya, about 5 miles from the Israeli border, killing three journalists. Two of the reporters worked for Al Mayadeen and the third for Al-Manar, two television stations regarded as pro-Hezbollah. The strike hit a guesthouse with more than a dozen other journalists from a range of media outlets who had marked the roofs of their cars parked outside with “press" to be seen from above, according to photos from the scene. The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel is also fighting Hamas on the ground in northern Gaza, seeking to kill militants who remain active despite the deaths of most of the group’s senior military and political leadership in the strip. Meanwhile, there is a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly in the north, where aid distributions have plummeted amid a renewed Israeli campaign there.

This week, Egypt, on behalf of Israel, presented a Hamas delegation in Cairo an offer of safe passage for the group’s leaders in Gaza in exchange for the surrender of its weapons, according to Arab mediators. Hamas officials said they were open to discussing a cease-fire proposal but strongly opposed disarming, and warned the group could continue fighting for months, if not years, the mediators said.

Blinken met Friday with Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and then later with Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi. He was also scheduled to meet with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan at his London residence.

Sitting with Blinken, Safadi accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing" in northern Gaza and said the Israeli government “is not listening to anybody," in a rebuke of the American effort to influence Israel throughout the war. “We really stand at the brink of regional war now," Safadi said.

Netanyahu’s office didn’t immediately respond to the comments.

Sune Engel Rasmussen contributed to this article.

Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com, Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com and Rory Jones at Rory.Jones@wsj.com