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Displaced Palestinians near Rafah: Hamas is calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, but Israel is ruling this out
Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Ceasefire, exchange of hostages, withdrawal of the armed forces: While numerous people in Israel are once again demonstrating against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, different views continue to clash in the negotiations between the country and Hamas. Now the USA is said to have submitted a new proposal.
A new agreement between Israel and Hamas has been negotiating in Qatar for weeks. International efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the hostages kidnapped from Israel by Hamas had recently intensified again. They are run under the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the USA.
So far there has been no breakthrough in the meetings. During the discussions there are said to have been different views on the question of the relationship between prisoners to be released and the hostages.
According to an Israeli official, the US made a proposal to which Israel responded positively. "Hamas' response is still pending." The official did not provide any further details about the US proposal, and the American embassy did not initially comment. Both sides had previously agreed that if an agreement was reached, Israel would suspend its offensive in the Gaza Strip for six weeks. In return, 40 of the 130 hostages would be able to return to Israel.
Two Palestinian officials close to the mediation told Reuters that a Gaza ceasefire agreement was not imminent. There is a wide gap between the positions between the two sides, a high-ranking Hamas representative told the AFP news agency on Saturday.
Hamas wants a ceasefire to include an Israeli commitment to ending the war and withdrawing forces from Gaza. Israel has ruled this out, saying it will ultimately press ahead with the campaign to dismantle Hamas.
Under an earlier ceasefire, Israel in late November released three imprisoned Palestinians, most of whom were young and accused of relatively minor offenses, for every hostage released by Hamas. Those involved assume that Hamas will now seek the release of a larger number of senior Palestinian fighters.
For the Israeli delegation, the pressure within the country is also growing: Thousands demonstrated in Israel on Saturday evening against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and for the release of hostages from the Islamist Hamas. “Time is running out, bring her home!” they shouted, according to Israeli media. Protesters set several small fires on the streets of central Tel Aviv and blocked a main artery.
The demonstrators accuse Netanyahu of failing to manage the crisis after the Hamas attack and now subordinate the fate of the hostages to the needs of his political survival. One of the speakers said: “My cousin Ofer has been a prisoner of Hamas for 169 days. And we have been prisoners of our government for 169 days.”
Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups from the Gaza Strip killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages in their massacre last October. Israel then attacked the Palestinian coastal strip with massive military force. Just over 100 hostages were released during a ceasefire in November, and according to Israeli estimates, almost 100 of those abducted by Hamas are still alive.
Hamas' armed wing said on Saturday that an Israeli hostage had died due to a "lack of medicine and food." Israeli officials have generally refused to respond to such announcements, accusing Hamas of psychological warfare. However, Israel itself has declared 35 hostages dead in captivity.
spr/Reuters/AFP