Hamas wants permanent ceasefire in Gaza (file photo)
Gaza:
They set themselves a 48-hour deadline earlier this week, but on Thursday neither Hamas nor Israel showed any sign of agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza, despite pressure from international mediators.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar worked out a framework for a deal that included a six-week cessation of fighting and the exchange of about 40 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
It will also increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and the return of many displaced people to their homes.
The ultimate goal of the proposals is to ensure that all 129 hostages believed to be alive in Gaza and the eventual withdrawal of all Israeli forces.
But now “negotiations are at an impasse,” said Hasni Abidi of the Center for the Study of the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva.
However, neither side has given up yet.
“Hamas is studying the proposal … and has not responded yet,” Hossam Badran, Hamas spokesman in Doha, told AFP.
Hamas’ desire for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza is unacceptable to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to “annihilate” all Hamas camps.
He said four battalions were continuing operations in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in southern Gaza where some 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
Netanyahu has vowed to launch a ground invasion of Rafah, defying international outcry, including from the United States, Israel’s most powerful ally.
On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, targeting several Israeli communities in southern Israel, and then the Gaza War broke out.
That attack killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation, and its intense military campaign has since killed 33,482 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
tactical truce
Analysts believe that Israel will benefit from the ceasefire, even if it is only a tactical move, because Israel has lost 260 soldiers in the Gaza Strip and thousands more have been injured.
On Sunday, Israel said it had withdrawn all troops from southern Gaza but had one brigade controlling the central strip through the territory.
Daniel Byman of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service said the withdrawal of the soldiers, including from the city of Khan Younis, was in preparation for the attack on Rafah.
Abidi said the withdrawal gave Israel, which has become increasingly diplomatically isolated due to heavy civilian casualties in Gaza, some much-needed breathing space, especially in dealings with Washington, which it had “failed to convince” of its war strategy.
While Washington is working to avoid escalation in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, the April 1 attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, widely blamed on Israel, could “shatter” that strategy, he said.
Furious US President Joe Biden has vowed continued support for Israel, but this depends on Israeli military restraint and improvements in humanitarian aid to Gazans.
Netanyahu also faces intense pressure from the desperate and angry families of hostages still being held in Gaza.
About 250 Israelis and foreigners were detained in the October 7 attack by Palestinian groups, of whom 129 remain in custody. The military said 34 people died.
hold your breath
However, Beyman said a truce could “shatter” Israel’s ruling coalition, whose far-right members oppose any concessions to Hamas.
It’s a real dilemma “for someone like Netanyahu who doesn’t put his country before his political ambitions,” he said.
“I don’t think Netanyahu can claim victory if top Hamas members in Gaza are not captured or killed,” Abidi said.
Israeli officials specifically targeted Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the group’s military leader.
Sinwar is accused of being the mastermind of the October 7 attack.
But for Hamas, a ceasefire would be a symbolic victory.
It would also allow it to “regroup and ambush (Israeli) forces,” said Omar Dostri of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic and Security Studies.
“Hamas’ goal is to take a breather and hope that international pressure will eventually bring an end to the war,” he said.
Abidi said a truce would also make Hamas look better in the eyes of the devastated and hungry people of Gaza.
Even if Netanyahu promises there will be no Hamas in the small coastal territory, the Islamist movement is already preparing for “the day after tomorrow,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
