Hamas says there has been no progress in ceasefire negotiations with Israel over the war on Gaza as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv to demand that the government rescues the captives and makes a deal.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, said Saturday that the Palestinian group was still ready to discuss any truce proposal that would end the nearly nine-month conflict.
“Once again, Hamas is ready to deal positively with any proposal that guarantees a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a serious exchange agreement,” Hamdan said at a press conference in Beirut.
Efforts by Arab mediators, backed by the United States, have so far failed to achieve a ceasefire, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse. Hamas says any agreement must permanently end the war and result in Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will only accept temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is “eradicated”.
Hamdan also criticized the United States for pressuring Hamas to accept Israel’s terms.
Organizers of anti-government protests in Tel Aviv estimated that 130,000 Israelis converged on the city center Saturday night to demand an immediate truce to bring the captives home.
At a press conference held outside the Defense Ministry, family members of those detained in Gaza made statements to the crowd.
“Let’s not let Netanyahu sabotage the deal again. Netanyahu’s insistence on prolonging the war puts us and our loved ones between us,” said an anonymous insider.
“Continuing the war means killing the hostages in the hands of the Israeli government. People understand that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for personal reasons: reaching an agreement would lead to early elections and end his rule.”
New American text
On Saturday, the Associated Press news agency cited an unnamed “senior Biden administration official” as saying the United States had presented new language to Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries aimed at trying to revive stalled negotiations between Israel and the Hamas.
The official said the revised text focuses on negotiations that are set to begin between Israel and Hamas in the first phase of a three-phase deal signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. fitted out almost a month ago.
The first phase calls for a “total and complete ceasefire,” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of captives – including women, elderly and wounded – in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The proposal called for the parties to negotiate the terms of the second phase during the 42 days of the first phase. Under the current proposal, Hamas could release all remaining men, civilians and military. In return, Israel could release an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The releases would not take place until a “lasting calm” takes effect and all Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza.
The proposed new language, which the official did not detail, is intended to work around differences between Israel and Hamas over the parameters of negotiations between phase one and phase two.
Hamas wants the negotiations to focus on the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners who will be released from Israeli jails, in exchange for the remaining Israeli soldiers and captive men held in Gaza, the official said. Israel wants the negotiations to be broader and include the demilitarization of Hamas-controlled territory.
Hamdan said the group had not yet received a new ceasefire proposal from the mediators. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh spoke by phone with the head of Egyptian intelligence to discuss the negotiations, Hamas said in a statement.
Growing fears of wider war
Talks of a truce come as pressure mounts on regional and international leaders to end the war in Gaza, while fears of it extending to Lebanon increase. Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israeli officials have threatened a major escalation over the past week.
Analysts said An all-out war in northern Israel and southern Lebanon would be catastrophic for the Middle East. Seven countries have called on their citizens to urgently leave Lebanon, the latest being Saudi Arabia, which urged its citizens to “immediately leave Lebanese territory.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant threatened this week to bomb Lebanon “Back to the Stone Age” if a major conflict breaks out. Iran, Hezbollah’s main ally, has warned Israel of a “annihilating war» if he attacked Lebanon.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday highlighted the prospect of an “unprecedented” war in the region, calling for urgent international intervention to prevent “the expansion of a seriously escalating conflict.”
