“It is Hamas that is preventing an agreement for the release of the hostages.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this, adding that “Israel was and still is ready to conclude a truce in the fight to free our abductees”. But Hamas, he added, “remained entrenched in its extreme positions, first of all the request to withdraw all our forces from Gaza. Israel cannot accept it”. “Therefore – he underlined – Israel will not accept Hamas’ demands, which mean surrender, and will continue to fight until all its objectives are achieved”.
Hamas leaders began the second day of negotiations in Cairo with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, but representatives of the Islamic faction denounced the “lack of progress”. Hamas arrived in Cairo – one of its representatives said, quoted by the Israeli media – with the determination to reach an agreement “but not at any price”. “An agreement – he added – must put an end to the war and take the IDF out of Gaza. Israel has not yet committed itself”. Israel remains firm on its position of not ending the war and not withdrawing from the Strip.
Families of Netanyahu hostages, ‘make the agreement on Gaza’. On the eve of Yom ha-Shoah – which from this evening in Israel commemorates the Holocaust – the families of the hostages in Gaza turned to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for an agreement on Gaza to be made. “A few hours before Yom ha-Shoah, we want to remember – they said – that you have promised every year ‘never again’. It is your duty to ignore any political pressure and history will not forgive you if you miss the opportunity, since the return of the hostages is a necessary condition for national resurrection.”
THE FIRST DAY OF NEGOTIATIONS
The negotiations in Cairo for a truce in Gaza and the release of the hostages still remain in the balance and nothing is taken for granted, after Hamas put the talks on ice at the end of a day which had seen positive glimmers of a possible agreement. The optimism filtered from the Egyptian capital – with the mediators speaking of “significant progress” – was attenuated in the evening, when a high-ranking Israeli official curbed enthusiasm by accusing the Palestinian group of “ruining efforts” for the agreement by insisting on precondition for putting an end to the war. In fact, a senior Hamas official stressed that the group “will not accept under any circumstances” a truce in Gaza that does not explicitly include a complete end to the offensive on the Strip. And he accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “personally obstructing” efforts to reach a truce agreement due to “personal interests.”
For its part, the Jewish State – they warned from Jerusalem – “will under no circumstances accept the end of the war as part of an agreement for the release of its hostages”. The issue therefore always remains the same, but the Hamas delegation that arrived in Cairo continues to discuss the general outline of the agreement with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators. In contradictory information on the progress of the talks, Barak Ravid of the website Axios had reported on the possibility of Hamas completing the first phase of the agreement (the humanitarian release of hostages) without an official commitment from Israel to end the war . According to the Saudi newspaper Asharq, in exchange the Palestinian faction would have solid guarantees from the United States on the ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Strip after the first two phases of the agreement and the promise that the Israeli army will not continue the fighting after the final release of the approximately 130 hostages still in Gaza.
But Israel continued to urge caution throughout the day. A source in the Jewish state stressed that they are “eagerly waiting to see Hamas’ final position, but that the information has not yet arrived.” He then insisted that “in light of past experiences, even if Hamas says it is following the outline, the small details and reservations it will present could scuttle the agreement.” For this reason, so far no Israeli delegation has gone to Egypt, where it will go – it was explained – only “if there is a response from Hamas that has a horizon for negotiations”. Benny Gantz, the war cabinet minister, also called for patience, confirming that the Palestinians have not yet given a definitive answer to the mediators.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – after having once again rejected Israel’s intention to enter Rafah which would entail “unacceptable damage” – observed that at the moment “Hamas is the only obstacle to the ceasefire in Gaza”.
While one of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh’s advisors, Taher Nunu, reaffirmed that “any agreement to be reached must include a complete and total end to the aggression and the full withdrawal of the occupation from Gaza.”
In the flurry of news regarding the possible agreement, the Saudi newspaper Asharq – reported by the Israeli media – hypothesized that Israel is also willing to release Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian Fatah leader sentenced to several life sentences for terrorism. As long as he goes to Gaza and not the West Bank. But there is no official confirmation of such a thorny issue in Israel.
The fact is that international pressure for an agreement to be made, after Israel, is focusing on Hamas. Qatar, Times of Israel revealed, would be ready to accept the US request to expel the Hamas leadership from Doha, including Haniyeh himself, if the faction’s leaders continue to reject the agreement. A request, the Washington Post said, delivered by Blinken last month.
ANSA Agency Pro-Gaza protests, hunger strike in Princeton – News – Ansa.it Pro-Palestine mobilizations in universities around the world, Sciences Po evacuated to Paris. Police clear New York University encampment. And messages of thanks appear on the tents in Rafah (ANSA)Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
