Amid all the quarreling and distrust in the negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage-release deal, Israel and Hamas have actually settled on the vast majority of the terms, according to a senior U.S. official.

"Basically 90% of this deal has been agreed, and it has been agreed on terms that even Hamas had on their own proposal," the official told reporters Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The current proposal seeking to break a stalemate features three elements: cease-fire arrangements, including the redeployment of some Israeli military resources; a prisoner and hostage exchange; and increased humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza that, in addition to food and fuel trucks, would include addressing immediate infrastructure needs and rehabilitating hospitals and bakeries.

That would all be part of the initial six-week truce, which would stop the war and continue as long as the parties kept talking. Mediators would then try to guide the process to phase two, which is a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli forces.

An exchange of hostages for an estimated 800 Palestinians prisoners, some with life sentences, was complicating talks as of Wednesday. The U.S. official said the prisoner release was a central component of the deal and was colored by the execution of the six hostages in a Rafah tunnel last week, reducing the number of captives on the exchange list. All women hostages, including soldiers, all men over 50 and all ill and wounded hostages would be freed in the first phase.

That stage would also see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas. But a dispute has emerged over whether the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza constitutes a densely populated area. The official said Israel produced a proposal to significantly reduce troops along the corridor and that the issue is still under discussion.

Developments:

∎ Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning Israel's claims that withdrawing from the Egypt-Gaza border would allow Hamas to re-arm as "absurd attempts to justify the continuous Israeli violations of international laws and norms."

∎ Globally known Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was among those apprehended by Danish police Wednesday at Copenhagen University during a protest against the war in Gaza, Students Against the Occupation said.

Netanyahu claims Hamas 'wiped the floor' with deal

Under intense international pressure to reach a deal for a cease-fire and release of hostages, and amid accusations he's sabotaging negotiations for political reasons, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the claims at a news conference Wednesday and instead blamed Hamas.

Once again using maps to illustrate his arguments, Netanyahu said it was essential Israel maintain control of the narrow strip of land between southern Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadephi Corridor, which has become a major sticking point in a truce deal. He maintained that without a military presence there, Hamas could use the passageway to take hostages to other countries or smuggle weapons into Gaza.

“Gaza cannot have a future if Gaza remains porous and you can enable the rearmament of Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor,” he said. "If you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to hold on to the Philadelphi Corridor."

Opposition leader Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who joined Netanyahu in a War Cabinet before it was disbanded in June, are among those who have rejected the notion that holding on to the corridor is critical to getting the hostages freed.

Speaking in English to the foreign media, Netanyahu denied he was using the Philadelphi argument as a pretext to avoid reaching an agreement, which would alienate the far-right flank that keeps his governing coalition in place. Israel did not enter the corridor until seven months into the war, which Netanyahu said was because there were other key military targets.

And he refuted the premise of a journalist who asked if Israeli control of the Philadelphi strip was ever mentioned in a U.S.-backed proposal Israel presented May 27 and Hamas mostly accepted, according to multiple reports. The Israeli news site Ynet reported this week that two months later Netanyahu added a number of alterations that scuttled the agreement.

“Hamas didn’t accept the deal," Netanyahu said of negotiations that continued into August. "On the May 27 proposal, they had 29 changes and corrections. Twenty-nine, which effectively eviscerated them from any meaning. It was a rejection. In fact, a detailed rejection of the deal. … Hamas basically wiped the floor with it."

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Netanyahu reportedly torpedoed deal this week

Israeli negotiators told mediators this week that Israel would agree to withdraw troops from the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, only to be overruled by Netanyahu in a press conference hours later, Haaretz and other Israeli media reported Wednesday. Netanyahu has for several weeks refused to consider removal of Israeli troops from the border as part of cease-fire and hostage-release deal. Hamas, with international backing, has demanded complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Haaretz, citing a senior Israeli official and foreign sources, said Mossad chief David Barnea told mediators on Monday that Israel was willing to withdraw from the corridor if all its operational demands were met. The senior Israeli official told Haaretz that Netanyahu's press conference was meant to stall the talks for political purposes. Netanyahu's coalition government is dependent on the support of far-right ministers who adamantly oppose a deal.

Polio vaccination program making 'great progress'

A polio vaccination program that has brought three days of pauses in fighting to central areas of Gaza resulted in "great progress" with about 187,000 children receiving doses, the U.N. said Wednesday.

The program now moves into southern Gaza for three days, then into northern Gaza for three more days. The U.N. hopes to vaccinate an estimated 640,000 children. The temporary pauses in fighting, lasting several hours each day, must be respected for the program to succeed, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said. Reaching 90% vaccination coverage is crucial to stop an outbreak of polio and prevent the spread of the virus, the agency said.

The vaccination program was prompted after the World Health Organization confirmed on Aug. 23 that at least one baby has been paralyzed by the type 2 poliovirus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

"Great progress! Every day in the middle areas of Gaza, more children are getting vaccines against polio," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in social media post Wednesday. "While these polio 'pauses' are giving people some respite, what is urgently needed is a permanent cease-fire, the release of all hostages and the standard flow of humanitarian supplies including medical and hygiene supplies."

Israel trades fire with Hezbollah

Israeli strikes hit targets of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon on Wednesday after dozens of missiles were fired into northern Israel, starting fires but causing no significant damage, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The military said around 65 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted by Israel's aerial defense systems and some of which fell into open areas. Emergency services were dealing with fires caused by falling projectiles, the IDF said. There were no reports of casualties.

−Reuters

Palestinian girl shot to death looking out window, father says

The father of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in an Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank said she was merely looking out a window at home when a sniper's bullet hit her.

The IDF said it's investigating the reported death Tuesday of Lujain Osama Musleh during a large operation that included hundreds of soldiers and armored vehicles. Israel has said it's trying to stamp out resurgent terrorism in the West Bank.

Osama Musleh said his daughter opened a curtain as Israeli troops surrounded the house next door to their home in Jenin when she was shot in the forehead.

"She didn't go to the roof, she didn't hurl a stone, and she wasn't carrying a weapon," he said. "She is 16 years old. The only thing she did is look from the window and the soldier saw her and shot her.''

6 Hamas leaders charged in Oct. 7 attack

The Justice Department charged six leaders of Hamas with the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The charges included conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, conspiracy to support a terrorist organization and conspiracy to use bombs and weapons of mass destruction. The six defendants named in charges unsealed Tuesday include: chief leader and Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka. Also included, although declared or reported dead, are Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammad Al-Masri and Marwan Issa.

Haniyeh, Hamas' political chief, was assassinated in Tehran in July. Issa, the third-ranking Hamas leader, was reportedly killed in March. And Oct. 7 planner Al-Masri, known as Mohammad Deif, was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike in June. The Oct. 7, Hamas-led militant assault into Israel killed almost 1,200 people, and another 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. More than 100 remain there and dozens of them are dead, Israeli authorities say.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges are for financing and directing a decades-long campaign to kill Americans and endanger the security of the United States.

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