Efforts to reach a hostage agreement in the Gaza war have reached a critical point. There was recently talk of optimism. But Israel’s head of government appears to be pursuing his own agenda.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is causing anger and irritation with his tougher conditions for a ceasefire in the Gaza war. According to a media report, his new demand that an agreement must prevent the return of armed Hamas fighters from the south to the north of the sealed-off Gaza Strip threatens to derail the recently promising efforts to reach a deal to release the hostages held by the Islamist Hamas.
Several members of the Israeli negotiating team had expressed reservations about Netanyahu’s demands during consultations with him, reported the well-connected Israeli journalist Barak Ravid on the news portal “walla.co.il”. One of the participants was quoted as saying that they could not fulfill them. Netanyahu had previously reiterated his conditions for an agreement during a speech to prospective officers, which he had recently listed before the resumption of indirect negotiations, thus attracting criticism.
Hostage relatives shocked
Preventing armed Hamas fighters from returning to northern Gaza is a demand that was not part of Israel’s position presented in late May; it is not clear why Netanyahu raised it, Ravid quoted his source as saying. The forum of relatives of hostages held in Gaza reacted to reports that Netanyahu’s new demand could prevent an agreement on a deal by saying: “We are appalled and shocked by this irresponsible behavior.”
“It could lead to a missed opportunity that may never return,” a statement said. Netanyahu is now also demanding that the Israeli army continue to exercise control over the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, which runs along the border with Egypt in southern Gaza. According to Israel, Hamas has used this border area to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army took control of the corridor a few weeks ago.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the negotiations held this week in Cairo, in which Egypt, Qatar and the USA are mediating between Israel and Hamas, were about ideas on how this border strip could be secured without the presence of the Israeli army. Egypt wants Israel to withdraw its troops from there. But Netanyahu’s office has now clarified this in a statement: “The prime minister insists that Israel will remain in the Philadelphia Corridor,” it said.
Insisting on staying in the area means “that there is no agreement,” the US newspaper quoted a former officer of the Israeli military intelligence service and head of a forum for Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv University as saying. The fact that Netanyahu is now also demanding that an agreement prevent Hamas fighters from the south from returning to the north of the sealed-off coastal area is seen by some members of the Israeli negotiating team as a purely tactical maneuver, Ravid reported.
Netanyahu is maneuvering
Netanyahu is toughening his stance in the knowledge of intelligence reports that Hamas is militarily weakened in the Gaza Strip and now wants a ceasefire, Ravid wrote in the US news portal Axios. Critics accuse Netanyahu of not being interested in a negotiated solution. Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges, has to take into account ultra-religious and right-wing extremist coalition partners. They reject concessions to Hamas and threaten to collapse his government.
Netanyahu recently listed Israel’s right to resume fighting as non-negotiable conditions for a ceasefire agreement, in addition to preventing armed Hamas fighters from returning to northern Gaza. Israel would also “maximize” the number of live hostages that Hamas would have to release as part of a deal. Weapons smuggling from Egypt would be stopped. “These are our inviolable principles,” Netanyahu said in a statement from his office.
Cautious optimism
The slow-moving indirect negotiations, which mostly take place in Cairo and Doha, are about exchanging the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and about ways to achieve a permanent ceasefire. Recently, cautious optimism has emerged in negotiating circles because Hamas appears to have relaxed some of its rigid positions.
Mediators and former negotiators told the Wall Street Journal that Netanyahu has previously hampered progress in the indirect negotiations through public statements and by limiting the mandate of his own negotiating team. His recent comments could be seen as a continuation of this trend. There are still open points that go beyond what was agreed with the mediators, a senior Egyptian official was quoted as saying.
War continues
This is hindering progress in negotiations on a hostage deal, the official said. According to Israeli estimates, around 120 hostages are still being held in Gaza. However, many of them are probably no longer alive. The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations in southern Israel on October 7 last year. They killed more than 1,200 people and abducted another 250 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 destruction. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 38,300 Palestinians have already been killed in Gaza. The number makes no distinction between civilians and armed fighters and cannot be independently verified.
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.
