Negotiators in the Gaza conflict have been struggling to reach an agreement for months. The recent confidence does not necessarily harmonize with the stubbornness of the decision-makers.
While indirect negotiations in Cairo over the release of Israeli hostages in the Gaza war continue, the bloodshed in the sealed-off coastal strip shows no sign of abating. The Palestinian disaster relief agency said it pulled the bodies of 60 dead Palestinians from the rubble in the Shejaiya district in the east of Gaza City. Israel’s army ended a two-week operation there on Wednesday and, according to its own account, killed dozens of Islamist Hamas fighters and destroyed eight tunnels.
The information provided by the various parties could not be independently verified. According to the disaster control agency controlled by Hamas, the Israeli military destroyed 85 percent of the residential buildings in Shejaiya. “The neighborhood is now a disaster area that is no longer habitable,” the organization said in a statement. Meanwhile, Israel’s military continued its operations against the Islamist militia in several places in the Gaza Strip.
The indirect negotiations on a hostage agreement that have been ongoing for months are to continue in Cairo. A delegation from the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet and the Israeli army is traveling to the Egyptian capital, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem announced. Israel is not negotiating directly with Hamas; Egypt, Qatar and the USA are acting as mediators.
The slow-moving talks are about exchanging the remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and ways to achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war. Hamas is demanding that Israel end the war quickly. Israel, for its part, wants to keep the option of military intervention in Gaza open even after the hostages are released.
Cautious optimism
The negotiation process recently came to a standstill due to the conflicting views and only recently resumed after Hamas, according to media reports, showed flexibility in some of its positions. After a final round on Wednesday in the Qatari capital Doha, some participants expressed cautious optimism. “We see progress. We see the possibility that an agreement will be reached,” said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington. “We cannot guarantee that,” he added. “A lot of details still need to be worked out.” Israeli government officials had previously expressed similar views. “We are close to an agreement on the principles of a deal,” Israeli TV station Channel 13 quoted one of them as saying.
At his final press conference at the NATO summit in Washington, US President Joe Biden also expressed optimism. “The trend is positive,” he said. Both sides had agreed to a plan he had presented. Now it was a matter of working out the details.
Netanyahu and Hamas remain on collision course
The decision-makers on both sides, however, are sticking to their irreconcilable positions, at least outwardly. “The Hamas murderers are still clinging to demands that contradict the basic principles (of a hostage agreement) and endanger Israel’s security,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony marking the end of a training year for officers.
Netanyahu reiterated his demands that Israel would continue the war even after the hostages were released and would maintain military occupation of strategic locations in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas leadership, in turn, accused him of “delaying” and “sabotage” the ongoing negotiations. The Islamists also claimed in a statement that they had not received any information from the mediators about the results of the talks with the Israeli side.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7, 2023. They also took 250 people hostage to Gaza.
After more than nine months of war, Israel is facing international criticism for the high number of casualties among the Palestinian population and the immense damage to buildings and infrastructure in the sealed-off coastal strip.
According to a recent statement by the Hamas-controlled health authority, 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and another 88,295 injured. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters and cannot be independently verified.
Self-criticism of the army
An internal investigation by the Israeli army into its role in the massacre by Palestinian terrorists in a kibbutz on October 7, however, admits the military’s failure. “The commission of inquiry finds that the Israeli forces failed in their mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Beeri,” the published report states.
In Kibbutz Beeri alone, near the Gaza border, the terrorists killed 101 civilians. They abducted another 30 into the Gaza Strip, 11 of whom are still in Hamas’s power. 31 members of the security forces were killed in the fighting with the murderous invaders.
Survivors of the Beeri massacre complained that the army did not arrive at the scene until hours after the attack began. The residents and a small contingent of the kibbutz’s own armed security service were left to fend for themselves for hours.
The internal army report praises the courage of the kibbutz residents and their security service. Their efforts were crucial in “stabilizing the situation in the first hours of the fighting and preventing the attack from spreading to other parts of the kibbutz.”
Survivors of Kibbutz Beeri welcomed the report, but at the same time criticized its narrowing down to the role of the army. Rather, it is also about clarifying the responsibility of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has so far steadfastly refused to account for possible failures of his own.
Further US sanctions against violent settlers
Meanwhile, the US government is imposing further sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. According to the US State Department, those affected have been involved in violence against Palestinian civilians, have illegally “seized” their land and are threatening “the peace, stability and security of the West Bank”.
The measures are directed against three individuals, four outposts in the West Bank set up by extremist settlers and the right-wing Jewish group Lehava.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, among other areas. The number of settlers in the West Bank, which lies between the Israeli mainland and Jordan, has now risen to around half a million. Including East Jerusalem, the number is as high as 700,000. Israel’s right-wing religious leadership is pushing ahead with the expansion of settlements, even though this violates international law.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
