BEIRUT — The United States and other mediators are stepping up efforts to end the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals aimed at ending the regional conflict in the final months of the Biden administration.

Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and neither warring side has shown any sign of backing down on its demands.

Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein will travel to Israel on Thursday for discussions on possible ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as the release of hostages held by Hamas, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke out. under condition of anonymity. The official also said that CIA Director Bill Burns was traveling to Egypt on Thursday to discuss these efforts.

A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border. , said two other officials close to the talks.

But Israel is unlikely to trust U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to keep Hezbollah out of a reestablished buffer zone in Lebanon. He wants the freedom to hit activists if necessary. Lebanese officials want a complete withdrawal.

Separately, the United States, Egypt and Qatar proposed a four-week ceasefire in Gaza, during which Hamas would release up to 10 hostages, according to an Egyptian official and a Western diplomat.

But Hamas still appears unwilling to release dozens of hostages without securing a lasting ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, even after the assassination of its top leader, Yahya Sinwar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on lasting Israeli control over parts of the territory.

In Lebanon, pressure to revive the UN resolution that ended the last war

During his visit to Beirut last week, Hochstein met with the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri. They agreed on a road map on how to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

The resolution stipulates a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory and the withdrawal of all armed forces except UN peacekeepers and of the Lebanese army, from the area south of the Litani River, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles). ) north of the border.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah’s new leader Naim Kassem said the group would not “beg” for a ceasefire. “If the Israelis decide to end the aggression, we say we accept it, but on the terms that we consider appropriate,” he said in a televised speech.

Israel has not publicly commented on the proposal to end its latest war, which began more than a year ago and escalated significantly in mid-September.

Two U.S. officials say competing proposals are being discussed for a ceasefire in Lebanon, including an idea calling for an immediate truce followed by two months to fully implement the resolution.

The Lebanese official said once the ceasefire was reached, a 60-day period would begin during which the Lebanese army and the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL would deploy to the area border as Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters withdraw.

The Lebanese official said the road map includes increasing the number of UN peacekeepers from 10,000 to 15,000 and increasing the number of Lebanese troops south of the Litani from 4,000 to 15,000.

Resolution 1701 also calls for the “disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon,” including Hezbollah, but this is not part of the initial phase of implementation of the current proposal.

Another official close to the negotiations said Israel had requested that any agreement include measures to prevent Hezbollah from rearming and ensure that Israel would be able to act in the buffer zone to combat threats from the militant group.

It is unclear whether Lebanon would accept an agreement allowing Israel to continue its military operations on Lebanese territory. Lebanese officials have insisted that there should be no changes to Resolution 1701, which stipulates a complete withdrawal by Israel.

Hezbollah has said it will not stop its rocket attacks on Israel unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza. It is unclear whether this position changed after the killing of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several other senior commanders in Israeli airstrikes last month.

Mediators propose limited ceasefire in Gaza

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have proposed a four-week ceasefire in Gaza, during which eight to 10 hostages would be released, according to a senior Egyptian official.

Under the plan, humanitarian aid to Gaza would be boosted, but there would be no guarantee of future negotiations on a permanent ceasefire, the official said.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not specify how many were fighters but say more than half were women and children.

Around a hundred hostages are still being held in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to have died.

The latest proposal is based on an initiative by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who last week proposed a two-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of four hostages.

Netanyahu, who has always said he is open to temporary truces for the release of the hostages, said in a statement that he had not received a formal proposal based on the Egyptian initiative but that he “would have accepted it immediately “.

Hamas said it was open to discussing alternative proposals, but maintained its demands for a lasting ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Egyptian official said the mediators were not optimistic.

A Western diplomat in Cairo confirmed his government had been informed of the proposal, saying it was being pursued alongside efforts for a ceasefire in Lebanon. The two Egyptian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the talks.

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Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.