Israel said on Saturday there will be no formal end to the Gaza war as long as Hamas retains power, raising questions of timing and interpretation over the truce offer made by US President Joe Biden and tentatively accepted by the Palestinian faction.
Biden said Friday that Israel has proposed a deal that calls for an initial six-week ceasefire with a partial withdrawal of the Israeli army and the release of some hostages while “a permanent end to hostilities” is negotiated through mediators.
The proposal, Biden said, “also creates a better ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power.” He did not explain how this could be achieved. The Iran-backed Islamist group has given no indication it might step aside or disarm voluntarily.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Saturday that any notion that Israel could agree a permanent ceasefire before the “destruction of Hamas’ military and governance capabilities” is “a failure.”
Hamas said on Friday that it was ready to engage “positively and constructively.” But senior official Mahmoud Mardawi told Qatar television he had not yet received details of the proposal.
“No agreement can be reached before the demand for the withdrawal of the occupation army and a ceasefire is met,” he said. Hamas remains committed to the destruction of Israel.
On Saturday, the United States, Qatar and Egypt urged Hamas and Israel to finalize an agreement that “incorporates the principles” outlined by Biden to end the Gaza war.
Talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar with US support have been stumbling for months due to clashes between key positions.
Israel is only willing to suspend the war in exchange for hostages, saying it will resume its campaign to eliminate the Hamas threat. Hamas wants any deal to involve concrete actions by Israel to end the war, such as a complete withdrawal of troops.
A senior Biden administration official, asked about a potential rift between US and Israeli views on the future of Hamas, suggested that this could be open to interpretation and would depend on future Egyptian and Qatari influence on the movement.
“I have no doubt that the deal will feature Israel and Hamas,” the official told reporters. And I think the agreements and some of the day-after planning, you know, help ensure that Hamas’s military ability to regenerate itself in a way that could threaten Israel would be very much precluded by this agreement and, I think the president said in his speech , ensuring that Hamas cannot rearm.”
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