New Gaza hostage-ceasefire proposal could put an end to escalating Mideast tensions — Qatari report

Western officials have circulated a new Gaza ceasefire-hostage release proposal in the past four days that could put an end to escalating tensions in the region, according to a Qatari-owned media outlet.

The unsourced Al-Arabi Al-Jadid report says that Western and Arab officials close to both Israel and Iran have reviewed the proposal, which would potentially prevent both Tehran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, from launching threatened retaliation attacks on Israel.

The draft is said to include a ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal of troops from Gaza to achieve a “sustainable calm,” along with a hostage and prisoner exchange and a framework for the reconstruction of the Strip.

American and Western efforts to prevent an escalation in the region after the assassinations last week of Hezbollah’s top military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran are driving progress, according to the report.

The report adds that Hamas’s promotion of Yahya Sinwar to lead the terror group’s politburo, replacing Haniyeh, could be a positive development in terms of coming to an agreement as he represents the “demands of the resistance.”

It echoes reports by The Washington Post and Politico in the past day citing officials as saying that Iran could be reconsidering its promised major attack amid diplomatic pressure.