THE Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a truce in Gaza and release hostages are stalledThe Biden administration’s proposal to bridge the differences last week went too far “to accommodate” Benjamin Netanyahu’s position on the IDF’s presence in the Rafah and Netzarim corridors, two Arab officials from a mediating country and a third official involved in the talks told The Times of Israel.
The reasons for the stalemate
The talks are therefore at a standstill and one of the sources stressed the futility of another meeting of high-level negotiators, which was scheduled for tomorrow and Friday, unless the United States pressures Netanyahu to abandon the new demands and modify his proposal accordingly.
A second Arab source expressed shock at US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s repeated public insistence that Netanyahu supports the US proposal, an insistence that makes Hamas appear to be the only party standing in the way of the deal.
A third official involved in the talks also stressed that the U.S. proposal does not call for a permanent Israeli presence in Rafah, but does not rule out such a deployment entirely. But Netanyahu went further in comments made to a group of hostages’ relatives in recent days, speaking of a permanent IDF presence in Rafah, a point that is not part of the proposal and is hurting efforts to maintain talks with Hamas, the source said. He noted that Hamas has made it clear that it will not accept a continued Israeli presence in Rafah and Netzarim, “so Netanyahu will have to decide whether he will comply with these new demands or whether he wants to bring the hostages home alive.”
Biden Calls Netanyahu
To unblock the situation, US President Joe Biden spoke to the Israeli Prime Minister yesterday on the phone. During the conversation, which was also attended by Vice President Kamala Harris, they discussed the ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages and efforts to de-escalate the region, the White House said.
But according to Axios, citing a knowledgeable source, the US president urged Netanyahu “to show more flexibility, so as to reach an agreement for the release of the hostages and the ceasefire in Gaza.” At the center of the meeting was Israel’s new demand that the IDF remain deployed along the Philadelphia corridor, on the border between Egypt and Gaza, to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas from Egypt.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office just yesterday denied the Kan TV report that Netanyahu had agreed, in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken three days ago, to withdraw Israeli troops from the Philadelphia corridor in the second phase of the agreement with Hamas. The issue is the central issue of the negotiations.
Hamas Calls for Mass Protest Tomorrow
Meanwhile, Hamas has called for tomorrow “a day to defend Gaza, Jerusalem and al-Aqsa.” With this appeal, the movement has asked Muslims living in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the rest of Israel to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque tomorrow and barricade themselves inside to “thwart extremists’ attempts to desecrate it.”
On the 55th anniversary of an arson attack on al-Aqsa by an Australian Christian on August 21, 1969, Hamas accuses Israel of “complicity” and accuses it of attempting to impose its sovereignty over the entire mosque complex.
Sinwar asks for guarantees for his life in case of agreement
While in the event of an agreement with Israel, the new head of the political bureau of Hamas Yahia Sinwar wants guarantees on his life. This was reported by the Israeli website Ynet, which cites Egyptian sources who spoke with American officials, according to whom if there is an agreement, at the same time as the release of the hostages, Sinwar asks for himself “guarantees on his safety”, understood as a commitment from Israel not to kill him.
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