Israel: Hope for Gaza deal after overthrow of Assad regime

After the upheaval in Syria, mediators in the Gaza war are hoping for a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. Hamas is now ready to reach an agreement that would allow Israeli troops to temporarily remain in the Gaza Strip if fighting ceases, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Arab mediators. Hamas also gave the mediators a list of hostages that it would release as part of a ceasefire agreement. In doing so, the Islamists had given in to two of the Israelis’ core demands, the newspaper reported.

Shortly before, the United Nations General Assembly had passed a resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire and the immediate release of the hostages. Germany and 157 other member countries voted for the draft, 9 against it – including the USA and Israel. However, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin that there was now a chance for an agreement.

Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, wants to speak about this today in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before traveling on to Qatar and Egypt. The two Arab countries, together with the USA, have been mediating between Israel and Hamas for months, as the two warring parties do not negotiate directly with each other. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also holding talks in the Middle East again and is expected in Jordan and Turkey today, the State Department in Washington announced.

For months, Hamas had insisted that it would only agree to a new deal if it included a permanent end to the war and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Now there seems to be new movement in the matter. The German Press Agency had already learned from Hamas circles days ago that Qatar and Egypt had named the names of some hostages for possible release. Hamas is now showing itself to be more flexible in the negotiations than before, mediators said.

Terrorists from Hamas and other groups kidnapped more than 250 people from Israel to the sealed-off coastal area on October 7 last year. Around 1,200 people were killed in the unprecedented terrorist attack. It was the trigger for the Gaza War, in which, according to Palestinian information – which cannot be independently verified – more than 44,500 people were killed in Gaza.

As part of a ceasefire at the end of November 2023, Hamas released 105 hostages. In return, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from prisons in Israel. Since then, individual hostages have been freed by the military, while others have been found dead. It is not known how many of the hostages are still alive.

Hamas leader Jihia al-Sinwar, who has since been killed in Gaza, had originally hoped to unite Iran’s entire so-called resistance axis in the fight against arch-enemy Israel with the terrorist attack on Israel more than 14 months ago. But after Israel’s strikes against the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and now also with the overthrow of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Tehran’s power in the region is dwindling.

Israel is in the process of dismantling Iran’s “axis of evil,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. While the army continues to take intensive action against Hamas, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip and, according to its own statements, killed two more terrorists involved in the October massacre, several people were again killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, according to the local Ministry of Health. Despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. It was unclear whether they were members of the Shiite militia. Israel’s military initially did not comment.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army withdrew from the town of Chiam in southern Lebanon. The military said the mission there had been accomplished. In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, soldiers from the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force Unifil would now take up positions there. Initially, the Israeli army will remain stationed in several areas in southern Lebanon in order to take action against threats within the framework of the ceasefire agreement.

According to military information, four combat groups of the Israeli army are also still deployed in southern Syria. A brigade combat team is taking action against threats along the border, the armed forces announced in the evening. Several Syrian army tanks that were no longer in use were confiscated. The aim of the Israeli operation is to ensure the safety of the civilian population in northern Israel.

After rebels took control of Syria, Israel’s army moved troops into the buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the neighboring country. According to Israeli media reports, the combat troops are sometimes active just outside this buffer zone. France called on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

After the coup in Syria, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is calling for increased cooperation to stabilize the situation in the Middle East. “We must not retreat under any circumstances,” said Pistorius in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in an interview for the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “With the fall of Assad in Syria, it is not clear in which direction the region is developing, in which direction Syria is developing.”

Europe and Germany “could not and should not allow themselves to be mere spectators here. The region is too important for that,” said the minister. For Germany, this could also mean working with the new rulers in a “new Syria,” “if they take advantage of the opportunity that is now available to them and can quickly ensure some calm on which we can then build.”

Assad’s Baath Party says it has suspended its work indefinitely and that the military, which has long been loyal to him, is showing clear signs of dissolution. The international airport in the Syrian capital Damascus could possibly start operating again next Sunday. Transport Ministry circles said that there was looting, vandalism and theft after the coup. Repair work is currently taking place.