JERUSALEM: Although the discussions have not broken down, Israel and Hamas have accused one another of sabotaging efforts to reach an agreement on a hostage release and truce in Gaza.
The Palestinian organization declared on Saturday that it has sent its response to the most recent ceasefire request, while Hamas-backer Iran was getting ready to fire hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in revenge for a deadly strike in Damascus. Hamas restated its long-standing demands for an indefinite truce and the complete departure of Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip, which Israeli authorities have always refused, without overtly rejecting the draft agreement.
Instead, despite considerable objections from the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his intention to begin a ground invasion of Rafah, the final city in Gaza not yet subject to such a destiny and which Israel maintains is Hamas’s last significant stronghold.
Netanyahu declared that the “sole impediment” to a deal that would release the Israeli captives was Hamas. He declared that Hamas “has refused any deal and any compromise proposal” and that “the cabinet and the security forces are united in their opposition to these unfounded demands.”
Palestinian faction demands an end to hostilities permanently and the complete evacuation of Israeli forces from Gaza; Mossad claims Hamas is against humanitarian agreements and prisoner swaps.
In a statement made public by Netanyahu’s office on Sunday, Israel’s Mossad espionage agency said that Hamas had turned down the offer and that this “proves” Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, “does not want a humanitarian deal” or the release of detainees.
According to Mossad, Sinwar was “continuing to exploit the tension with Iran” and wanted to see “a general escalation in the region.”
The remarks were made shortly before Iran launched over 300 drones and missiles at Israel, the great majority of which, according to Israel, were intercepted.
“Not in a static state”
Israel “will turn every stone to bring back the hostages from Gaza” and “continue to work to achieve the objectives of the war against Hamas with all its might,” according to Mossad.
The negotiations, which are being mediated by Egypt, the US, and Qatar, are still going on in the Egyptian capital despite what seems to be a chasm between the parties.
Hasni Abidi of CERMAM, a Geneva-based research tank that specializes in the Mediterranean and the Arab world, stated that “the negotiations are not at a standstill” but that the mediators will need to start over from scratch.
A plan that was circulating in Cairo called for a six-week ceasefire, the prisoner exchange, and increased humanitarian supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to a Hamas source who spoke to AFP, Israel would eventually remove all of its forces from Gaza, break the siege, and restore the area in addition to releasing all of the captives.
But all attempts to broker a long-term truce in the six-month conflict have so far fallen through.
A seven-day cease-fire in November made it possible to trade 80 Israeli detainees for 240 Palestinian detainees and 25 captives who were released in violation of the truce terms.
Following Hamas’s catastrophic incursion on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which claimed the lives of 1,170 Israeli settlers and military personnel, Israel’s attacks on Gaza intensified. According to the health ministry in the zone controlled by Hamas, Israeli forces have murdered at least 33,729 individuals since then, the majority of whom being women and children.
About 250 inmates were detained by the Hamas forces; 129 of them were still in Gaza, including 34 people the Israeli army claims are dead.
Israel continued to conduct airstrikes and bombardments in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, withdrawing the majority of its troops to leave just one brigade in the heart of the Strip. Netanyahu has nevertheless reaffirmed his intention to invade Rafah on foot, the location of almost 1.5 million Gazans’ sanctuary, in spite of resistance from Israel’s most important partner, the United States.
The relatives of the detainees and settlers are also putting more and more pressure on the Israeli prime minister, as evidenced by the weekly protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem calling for the overthrow of his administration.
