Mediators Seek To Wrap Up Cease-Fire Proposal As Netanyahu Holds Onto Gaza's Border With Egypt

International mediators are completing a new proposal aimed at forming a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to cede control of Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Qatar and Egypt have submitted revisions to the proposal document that U.S. officials are discussing.

David Barnea, director of Israeli intelligence service Mossad, was in the Qatar capital of Doha to discuss the revised document, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

U.S. officials said they expect to finish the final proposal with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators on Wednesday or Thursday.

Israeli officials and Hamas leaders are pessimistic over the prospects for an agreement despite rising outrage in Israel over the remaining hostages still held in Gaza, the Times said.

On Monday, Netanyahu repeated his persistent demand that Israel must control the Gazan side of the border with Egypt, called the Philadelphi Corridor, to deter Hamas from rearming its forces by smuggling armaments across the border.

Read Also: Israel, Hamas To Pause Fighting In Gaza So That 640,000 Children Can Get Vaccinated: Official

Hamas has demanded that Israel leave the border area completely as a condition for a permanent cease-fire.

In his speech on Monday, Netanyahu referred to Israeli forces along the border between Gaza and Egypt as an existential issue that would engage the country "for the foreseeable future."

Many Israelis have blamed Netanyahu for failing to bring six Hamas-held hostages back alive and accused him of avoiding a cease-fire deal with Hamas to cater to his far-right coalition allies.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis held mass protests in the streets or held a general strike for several hours while demanding a case-fire agreement with Hamas.

Hamas has released videos from dead Israeli hostages in a practice that Israeli officials consider “psychological terrorism” in Gaza, which the Times reported holds about 60 living Israeli hostages and the dead bodies of 35 other Israelis.

For months, mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have tried to facilitate a deal between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza and free the hostages, but high-level talks last month in Cairo and in Doha failed to do that.

Price Action: Aerospace and defense stocks saw gains and losses into Wednesday’s midafternoon trading as U.S. officials discuss the cease-fire proposal.

• Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT gained 1% to $572.87.
• The Boeing Company BA went up 1.75% to $163.83.
• Northrupp Grumman NOC slipped 0.30% to $521.13.

Oil stocks traded down.

• BP p.l.c. BP declined 0.93% to $32.56
• Equinor ASA EQNR fell 0.53% to $25.45.
• Suncor Energy Inc. SU went down 0.24% to $39.22

Read Next:

• Israel Strikes Gaza Hospital Amid Concerns Of Wider War

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