Netanyahu rejects the proposal for a 135-day truce in Gaza: “Surrendering to Hamas would only invite a new massacre”

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected this Wednesday the compensation that Hamas is asking for for handing over the 136 hostages remaining in Gaza: 135 days of ceasefire, the release of up to 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire Strip, the entry of more humanitarian aid, the beginning of the reconstruction of the territory and the indirect negotiation of the definitive end of the war. His words distance the options for a near truce. “Surrendering to Hamas's delirious demands would only invite a new massacre,” like the one on October 7. “There is no solution other than total victory” and this is “within reach”, he pointed out at a press conference in Tel Aviv, in which he stressed that “the day after [de la guerra] It is the day after Hamas.” “Not from Hamas, but from all of Hamas,” she pointed out. Netanyahu thus responds to the proposal that the Islamist movement has delivered to the mediating countries. The person in charge of diplomacy for one of them, the United States, Antony Blinken, assured late in the day, after discussing the document with his interlocutors in Israel, that “it has parts that are impossible to comply with,” but there is “room to reach an agreement.” agreement”.

According to a draft of Hamas' counterproposal consulted by Reuters, the pact would be implemented in three 45-day phases. In the first, Hamas would hand over women, men under 19 and over 50, and the sick, in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children in a ratio that would be set later. The Israeli army – which is now operating intensively in Khan Younis, Gaza's second city, and intends to soon penetrate the third, Rafah – would have to withdraw from urban areas. Then it would be the turn of the male hostages. Israeli troops would have to leave all parts of Gaza. This second phase would not begin until the parties agreed through mediators on “the necessary requirements” to end the war definitively.

Finally, Hamas would hand over the at least 31 corpses it has in its hands. Some were brought in dead by their militiamen during the October 7 attack, aware that Israel has paid a price in the past to bring them back. Others, in a number impossible to determine, would have lost their lives in the Israeli bombings themselves or in other ways.

The Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar It provides details that appear in an annex and transcend the situation in the Strip. Hamas wants the truce to be guaranteed not only by the current mediators (Qatar, Egypt and the United States), but also by two countries closest to the Palestinians: Turkey and Russia. In addition, it proposes the return of the Jerusalem Mosque Esplanade to the situation prior to 2003, when Ariel Sharon's Government once again allowed – without the green light from the foundation dependent on Jordan that administers the place – the entry to non-Muslims. , which ultra-nationalist Jewish groups are now taking advantage of.

1,500 Palestinian prisoners

The group estimates in its proposal the number of Palestinian prisoners it hopes to free in exchange during this process: 1,500. It is a much lower proportion than the exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 for more than a thousand prisoners, but three times higher than that of the exchange carried out in the last week of November, within the framework of which 80 hostages and 240 prisoners were released. Palestinians. It is not possible to know what part of the total the 1,500 would represent, because Israel does not provide official figures. Human rights NGOs and prisoners put them between 9,000 and 10,000, after the wave of arrests in Gaza and the West Bank following the October 7 attacks. Hamas wants to choose a third of the names of those serving life sentences.

According to the Lebanese newspaper, the Islamist movement demands that Gazans have freedom of movement between the different parts of Gaza during the ceasefire and that the sick and wounded be able to leave through the Rafah crossing to be treated in Egypt. Also the construction of temporary houses and large camps for displaced people with tents, at a rate of 50,000 per week; that Israel commits to resuming the supply of electricity and water (as required by international law), and that, among those released, there are also Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

It is Hamas' counterproposal to the document that the mediators and Mossad, Israel's secret service abroad, forged two weeks ago in Paris. Blinken received it this Tuesday in Doha (Qatar, another of the mediating countries) and analyzed it this Wednesday in Jerusalem with Netanyahu. The American president, Joe Biden, already described it last night as “a little excessive” and Blinken admitted this Wednesday in Jerusalem that “there is a lot of work to do.” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called it “positive,” without going into details.

Netanyahu rejects ending the war in exchange for the return of the hostages, considering that it would mean fulfilling only one of the three objectives of the war that he launched after the massive attack by Hamas on October 7 and which has left more than 27,000 dead (in his majority women and minors), created a humanitarian crisis and left entire areas in rubble. The other two objectives are “to destroy Hamas,” both politically (it has ruled Gaza since 2007) and militarily, and “to ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat again.” For days now, he has frequently repeated two ideas: “We will not withdraw the army and we will not free thousands of terrorists.” […] None of this will happen. What will happen? Absolute victory! ”He st
ated on January 30.

The matter puts the stability of the Israeli Government at risk at a time when calls for early elections are increasing and the relatives of the hostages and part of the political circle are pushing for a second exchange. 38% of the population wants them to be held “when the war is over” and 33% directly in three months, the legal minimum to organize them if they were called today, according to the latest Voice of Israel Indexthe survey released this Tuesday by the Israeli Institute for Democracy analysis center.

Netanyahu's far-right allies threaten to leave the Executive if the exchange goes ahead under the terms under which it is being studied. On the contrary, the opposition is pressuring Netanyahu to bet on the exchange. Those who joined the concentration government created do so from within. expressly for the war. And, from the outside, the previous prime minister, Yair Lapid, who offers Netanyahu day in and day out a “security net” without conditions to carry out the exchange, either by entering the coalition to compensate for the departure of the extreme right, or with their votes in Parliament.

Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.

_