As negotiations over Hamas's most recent ceasefire proposal start in Cairo on Wednesday, the US believes that the remaining gaps between Israel and the Palestinian militant organization can be resolved.
In Rafah, the southern Gaza city where over a million Palestinians have been forced from their homes during Israel's seven-month-long offensive, Israeli forces on Tuesday took control of the primary border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. This closed off a crucial entry point for relief supplies into the little community, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without food and shelter.
All five delegations involved in the ceasefire discussions in Cairo on Tuesday — Israel, Hamas, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt — reacted favorably to the restart of talks, and meetings were anticipated to go on into the morning on Wednesday.
CIA Head Bill Burns was scheduled to depart Cairo for Israel on Wednesday to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, according to a person familiar with his itinerary.
Israel said on Monday that requirements had been lowered in a three-phase proposal that Hamas had approved, making it unacceptable.
According to White House spokeswoman John Kirby, Hamas submitted a revised plan, and the updated text implies that the gaps that exist can "absolutely be closed."
Hamas's refusal to release further Israeli hostages without guaranteeing a permanent end to the fighting and Israel's claim that it would only negotiate a temporary halt have prevented the two sides from communicating since the sole break in the conflict to date, a week-long ceasefire in November.
On Tuesday, images from the Israeli army showed tanks passing through the Rafah Gate complex, which connects Gaza and Egypt, with the Israeli flag flying over Gaza. Rafah is the last bastion for Hamas fighters, according to Israel.
In a Tuesday interview with reporters in Beirut, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan issued a warning: a ceasefire would not be reached if Israel persisted in its military assault in Rafah.
According to Israel's military, it is carrying out a restricted operation in Rafah with the aim of eliminating fighters and demolishing Hamas's infrastructure, which controls Gaza. It ordered people to evacuate to an extended humanitarian zone located around 20 kilometers (12 miles) away. Many of these people had already been displaced earlier in the conflict from other parts of Gaza.
Families are struggling with a lack of medicine, food, water, and other necessities as they are packed into improvised shelters and tented camps.
The White House announced that it had been informed that petroleum deliveries via Rafah would resume on Wednesday, along with the reopening of the Kerem Shalom border.
Hamas approved a proposal on Monday that included a six-week ceasefire in the first phase, aid to be sent to Gaza, the release of 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, and the return of 30 Palestinian women and children held by Israel.
Protesters against the Gaza War have asked US President Joe Biden to put pressure on Israel to rethink its strategy. Four sources on Tuesday claimed that the United States, Israel's closest ally and primary arms supplier, had postponed some armament deliveries to Israel for a period of two weeks.
Although the White House and Pentagon chose not to respond, this would be the first postponement of this kind since the Biden administration threw its complete support behind Israel following the attack by Hamas on October 7.