US, other leaders call for Israel and Hamas to hammer out cease-fire deal

President Joe Biden along with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar are jointly calling for Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement that would free hostages and end the war in Gaza.

The urgent maneuvering comes as the already-high tensions in the region have reached a fever pitch in the wake of two high-profile assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including one inside Iran. Israel is bracing for counterattacks from Iran and fears have been raised of a wider war.

It also comes as the war, sparked by a Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, drags into its tenth month and more than 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has also erupted.

"‎‏It is time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families," the leaders said in a joint statement Thursday. "The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal."

The leaders called on Israel and Hamas to resume the stalled discussions on Aug. 15 at a venue in Doha or Cairo to "close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay."

The leaders of the three nations, who have acted as mediators in the negotiations process, also said that they are "prepared to present a final bridging proposal" to help secure a deal.

'No further time to waste'

A senior administration official said that the statement and its call for parties to return to the negotiating table came out of Biden's calls with his Egyptian and Qatari counterparts earlier this week. The leaders of Egypt and Qatar felt that a joint statement would be useful in their talks with the Hamas side, the official said.

"Obviously a statement from three leaders is unusual, but it's we think significant," the official said. "These three leaders have been involved in this hostage negotiation, ceasefire agreement negotiation now for some months, and as a statement says there's a framework agreement that is on the table with really the details of implementation that are left to conclude."

"The statement emphasizes the urgency that there's really no further time to waste or excuses from any party for further delay," the official added.

In response to this call, the Israeli prime minister's office said it will send a negotiation team to the proposed talks, while Hamas has yet to officially respond.

According to the U.S. official, both sides have "very firm positions" on "about four or five issues" each. Though the official said they might seem to be "unbridgeable," they have been able to find a way forward working through the issues one by one.

"But we think the bulk of the work has been done, and the deal is really there, and with some force of will and sitting down to hash it out, we think it is both possible, urgent, necessary, essential, whatever word you want to use," the official said. "So we are determined to do all that we possibly can, recognizing that lives are on the line."

Despite that assessment, it is unclear how willing each side is to come to a final agreement. The U.S. official added that the "final bridging proposal" that the leaders mentioned in the statement as an effort the help close the deal. The official added that having that proposal which is "unified between the three mediators can be quite powerful."

The official said that the bridging proposal has to do with the "sequencing" of the exchange of hostages and other "complicated" issues. And the official added that added that having a joint statement can be "quite powerful."

"The statement also, I think significantly, says as mediators, if it's necessary, we're prepared to present between the three of us a final bridging proposal to really resolve the remaining implementation issues in the manner that we think would meet the expectations of all the parties and help get bring this to a conclusion," the official said.

More work to do

But the official cautioned that the proposed date of Aug.15 is just the starting point, and there would be more work to do.

"It's not like the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday," the official said. "There's still a significant amount of work to do, but we do believe that what's left here really can be bridged, and there's really just no time to lose."

Israel is bracing itself for a retaliatory attack that both Iran and Hezbollah have promised will come.

Iran’s United Nations Mission in New York said in a statement to ABC News on Friday, "We hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire."

"I would say one thing, if they launch a major war in the Middle East with some massive attack on Israel, which they're threatening, in coordination with other groups, well, that's obviously going to significantly jeopardize any hope of getting a cease fire in Gaza," the U.S. official said.

The U.S. has also upped its military posture in the Middle East, The official added that they are doing everything they can to "deter" an Iranian attack on Israel and the "defeat an attack" if it does happen. But the official also said that today's statement is not "tied" to the larger picture of the tensions in the Middle East.

ABC News' Will Gretzky contributed to this report.