Optimistic mediators, but the agreement between Israel and Hamas for a truce in Gaza and the consequent release of the hostages held by the organization since 7 October still does not exist. In the long negotiations in Cairo, the indecision of Hamas is currently weighing heavily, as it still did not deliver a response to the negotiators last night regarding the latest proposal received. An indecision that led Tel Aviv to choose not to send its delegation to Egypt until an official reply arrives.
The point on the negotiations in Cairo
If the mediators talked about all day “significant progress”the Islamist organization – through various statements to the press – explained that it had put At the center of the negotiations was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “insistence” that the Jewish state enter Rafah regardless of a potential deal. This is the “key element” under discussion in the Cairo talks according to Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, who yesterday specified that “unfortunately, there was a clear statement” from the prime minister “according to which, regardless of what might happen, whether there is a ceasefire or not, there will be an attack. This is in contradiction to the ongoing talks,” the spokesperson said.
“We want to at least know exactly what Netanyahu’s statement means,” Hamdan added. “What we mean is that any achievement of a ceasefire means there will be no more attacks on Gaza and Rafah,” the demand.
Hamas, according to the latest media reports, he would however be ready to release 33 Israeli hostages during the first phase of the agreement with Israel. “Senior Israeli officials say there are early indications that Hamas will agree to carry out the first phase of the deal – the humanitarian release of the hostages – without an official commitment from Israel to end the war“, the announcement on of our hostages.”
Meanwhile too Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, discussed the proposed agreement for the first time through its representatives, saying that it is the offer closest to the demands of the Islamist organization, writes the Wall Street Journal citing Arab mediators. According to the American newspaper, Sinwar raised several warnings and Arab mediators said Hamas should present a counter-proposal “soon”.
Among the steps forward made by the Jewish State, there would be the release of Marwan Barghouti. A report by Maariv, which cited the Saudi channel Asharq, reports that Israel no longer opposes the prisoner’s release but insists on releasing him in Gaza and not in the West Bank. It was also reported, writes the Jerusalem Post, that Hamas is expected to request his name on the list of the first phase of the agreement. Barghouti, a former leader of the Tanzim, a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement, was sentenced in 2004 by an Israeli court to five cumulative life sentences and 40 years in prison for terrorist acts in which five Israelis were killed and several injured.
Israel is divided over Rafah, the far-right threat
Meanwhile the Israeli government – targeted yesterday evening by the protests of thousands of demonstrators in Tel Aviv, who returned to ask for a yes to the agreement but also early elections – is divided on the negotiations and, in particular, on the announced operation in Rafah.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has made a new threat to leave the government. In a statement, Ben Gvir welcomed Netanyahu’s decision for not sending a delegation to Cairo and said he expected the prime minister to keep the promises he allegedly made when the two met last week: “No to an ill-advised deal, yes to Rafah. The Prime Minister knows full well what the price will be to pay if this commitment is not honored”, the minister’s words. In a similar statement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich states that “a surrender agreement that will lead to the end of the war without a total victory is a disaster. Rafah now”, the request to the prime minister.
What does the latest proposed agreement include: the three phases
The latest proposed agreement would include a first phase lasting up to 40 days during which 33 hostages held in Gaza would be released and the IDF would withdraw from the Strip. The second phase would extend up to 42 days during which all remaining hostages would be released and the parties would agree on the conditions for a return to calm in Gaza. The third and final phase, dedicated to the delivery of lifeless bodies, would also last 42 days.
During the first phase, the return of the Palestinian population who took refuge in southern Gaza to the northern part of the Strip is also expected: Israel, according to the United States, would have accepted an unrestricted return of the population to their areas of origin.
The agreement also includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Hamas source cited by Channel 12 spoke of “compromises reached” on the number of detainees to be released in exchange for the release of each hostage. The news reported yesterday by the Times of Israel followed the announcement by Hamas which late on Friday evening had announced that one of its delegations would travel to Cairo “determined to reach an agreement that will satisfy Palestinian demands”.
