Has Hamas stopped demanding a ceasefire for a hostage deal with Israel?
Hamas dropped its demand for an immediate commitment from Israel to end the war, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team led by Mossad director David Barnea to Doha to take part in further negotiations on an agreement. The Jerusalem Post have learned.
Netanyahu spoke to US President Joe Biden and told him that Israel would participate in talks based on the latest draft of the three-phase agreement that Israel received on Wednesday, a proposal that addresses the release of the remaining 120 hostages and the issue of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
It is expected that the terrorist group will still demand a commitment to a permanent ceasefire, possibly even before the first phase is completed, but it would allow the first phase to begin even without such a commitment.
This fundamental change of course within the group raises cautious hopes that the impasse that led to the proposal presented by Biden on May 31 may now finally be overcome and the agreement can now be concluded.
Several senior defense officials are calling the new upcoming negotiations the closest Israel has come to a hostage deal with Hamas since the November agreement that released 105 of the 251 hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.
A US official told reporters: “We have achieved a breakthrough on a critical impasse in the agreement. The framework of the agreement is now fully consistent with the President’s speech and the UN Security Council resolution” passed last month supporting the agreement.
What needs to be worked out now is “the order of implementation,” the official said.
Hamas’s response, the official said, “moves the process forward and could form the basis for concluding an agreement.” “This does not mean that this agreement can be concluded within days. There is still a lot of work to be done,” the official said, but added that it was important that an agreement had been reached on the larger framework.
“What we got back from Hamas was a pretty clear correction of their previous position. And I think that’s encouraging,” the official said. “It’s time to end this because the lives of the hostages are at stake.”
The official added that during the 30-minute phone call, Netanyahu and Biden “went through the draft agreement and outstanding issues.”
Details of a possible deal
An Israeli government source said Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s principles to Biden, “especially Israel’s commitment not to end the war until all its objectives have been achieved,” the prime minister’s office said.
The Security Cabinet met on Thursday evening to further discuss the issue.
A Palestinian official familiar with the mediation efforts told Reuters that Hamas had shown flexibility on some clauses that would allow a framework agreement to be reached if Israel agreed. Two Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The three-phase agreement called for the release of 33 humanitarian hostages during the first phase, which was to last 42 days, in exchange for a pause in the war. From the 16th day, talks on a permanent ceasefire were to be held, which were to be concluded before the start of the second phase.
Israel has offered a number of new compromises, of which The Post has been informed, some of which cannot yet be fully disclosed.
Since May, Hamas has only demanded the release of 18 hostages in the first phase, and there are no reports that it has deviated from this demand, even after Israel returned to comprehensive negotiations.
This allows Netanyahu to claim that, at least so far, he has not agreed to an end to the war, although there is a good chance that this will ultimately be the outcome of the negotiations.
The United States always assumed that after a temporary pause in the war there would be a permanent ceasefire.
A US official said on Thursday: “We hope and expect that this agreement will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the release of all living hostages and their remains, and the start of a three- to five-year reconstruction plan.”
However, an Israeli decision to resume the war would mean an end to the hostage release.
This new round of negotiations, once resumed, is expected to last two to three weeks, as Hamas’ external leadership is having difficulty communicating with Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, who is hiding in tunnels and difficult to reach.
Many details of the deal have yet to be worked out, such as who will be on the list of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists who will be released from Israeli prisons in phases one and two of the deal. Some of the Palestinian prisoners being released are expected to have been imprisoned for killing Israelis.
According to sources, three main factors contributed to Hamas’s increased flexibility.
The first reason was that Qatar was exerting real pressure, possibly for the first time in nine months, sources said, with Doha and Cairo acting as the main brokers for a hostage deal, with US support.
The second factor is the increasing pressure from Biden and his chief negotiator, CIA Director William Burns, who threatened to break off negotiations and leave Hamas against Israel without a mediator who could keep Jerusalem in check.
Thirdly, the Egyptians have also increased their pressure on Hamas.
While there have been constant debates and disagreements between Netanyahu, Barnea and Israeli Major General (ret.) Nitzan Alon on the military side, Barnea has taken the lead in moving things forward with Burns and Qatar.
Netanyahu has faced fierce opposition from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to any steps to end the war without the complete defeat of Hamas, which experts say could take years.
The sudden movement in the largely dormant hostage deal comes as Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Washington to address a joint session of Congress. He will also likely meet with Biden, but there has been no official announcement yet.
In their conversation on Thursday, Netanyahu congratulated Biden and the American people on their celebration of Independence Day on July 4.
“The prime minister said that without the United States there would be no freedom in the world. President Biden said that without Israel there would be no security for Jews in the world,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Women in the Gaza Strip bear the brunt of the war and food shortages
Audrina Patridge makes country singer Michael Ray official on Instagram in a romantic post
Cromaine District Library Summer Concert Series
About The Author
