Situation at a glance: USA puts pressure on ending the Gaza war

After months of indirect negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza war without a breakthrough, the US is pressing Israel and the Islamist Hamas to reach an agreement. “We need to get a ceasefire and we need to get these hostages out,” said US Vice President Kamala Harris. Negotiators are continuing talks and the US government is continuing to work “very hard” to reach a successful conclusion.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, wanted to work towards concluding an agreement in his talks with the political leadership in Israel today. His aim is to continue “intensive diplomatic efforts” on the ground, as a spokesman for his ministry explained in advance. Blinken wanted to meet with President Izchak Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Galant, among others, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The talks with Netanyahu are likely to be particularly important. Critics see him as the biggest obstacle to an agreement on a ceasefire because he would have to fear the collapse of his government coalition if he made concessions to Hamas. But Hamas also rejects the current state of negotiations.

The ceasefire agreement is also intended to provide for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. In May, US President Joe Biden presented a proposal for a multi-stage agreement to end the war and ultimately rebuild the Gaza Strip.

New talks in Cairo this week

Blinken will remain in the region until Tuesday and will travel from Israel to Egypt, the State Department said. Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are continuing at various levels in Cairo. In the second half of the week, they are expected to culminate in a potentially decisive phase with talks at the level of the chief negotiators. The US, Egypt and Qatar are mediating in the negotiations. Blinken’s presence in Cairo lends additional weight to Washington’s commitment.

However, an agreement on steps to end the Gaza war, which would also prevent a possible conflagration in the Middle East, does not yet seem within reach. After the latest round of negotiations on Thursday and Friday in the Qatari capital Doha, some negotiators spoke of cause for “cautious optimism”. But important differences have not yet been bridged.

Hamas rejects the proposals outright. “After hearing from the mediators what was discussed at the last round of talks in Doha, we are once again convinced that Netanyahu continues to put obstacles in the way of an agreement,” said the Islamist organization’s first statement since the talks.

Hamas did not take part. It was informed of the results by the mediators. Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar is hiding in the tunnel network under the Gaza Strip and can only communicate with the outside world under difficult conditions.

Dispute over permanent troop presence in the Gaza Strip

Hamas further stated that Netanyahu was “putting forward new conditions and demands to torpedo the mediators’ efforts and prolong the war.” The new proposals, Hamas said, were in line with Netanyahu’s conditions and deviated from the negotiating framework presented by Biden in May.

Among other things, Hamas will not accept a permanent Israeli troop presence in strategic locations in the Gaza Strip, as Netanyahu has been persistently demanding. This also includes the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, a narrow strip of territory in southern Gaza along the border with Egypt. Israel suspects that Hamas has been supplying itself with weapons across this border.

Netanyahu also wants to keep Israeli troops permanently in the Nezarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into a northern and a southern section. The army presence here is intended to prevent Hamas from moving fighters from the south to the north of the sealed-off coastal area.

Stormy debate in the inner circle

Netanyahu’s insistence on his demands is said to be controversial even among his closest associates. According to Israeli media reports, a meeting with his negotiators on Sunday morning was extremely stormy. The negotiators warned urgently that insisting on the two corridors would cause the desired agreement to fail. The military leadership had repeatedly pointed out that Israel’s security interests on the Gaza-Egypt border could also be guaranteed by technical means.

Defense Minister Galant is said to have asked Netanyahu to present the negotiating strategy for the ceasefire talks to the entire government and not just to the inner circle, reported the television station Channel 12. “Israel is at a strategic crossroads,” Galant was quoted as saying. “The risk of military escalation is increasing, which will ultimately lead to an unstoppable war involving Iran and Hezbollah (in Lebanon),” he is reported to have said.

Anger over “standard piercing devices”

Netanyahu released a statement through his office on Sunday evening – with an angry undertone because of possible indiscretions from his entourage: “There are people who leak things on a regular basis and thereby damage the ability to reach a deal.” These people always wanted to give in to Hamas because otherwise it would not agree to an agreement. But they would always be wrong. “Today too, the prime minister insisted that we stay in the Philadelphia corridor to prevent terrorist elements from rearming,” said Netanyahu’s office.

The Gaza war was triggered by the terrorist attack by Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel on October 7. Around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were abducted into the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 40,000 people have since been killed in the sealed-off coastal area because of the war. The number does not differentiate between civilians and fighters and cannot be independently verified.