Following the UN Security Council vote to approve a three-phase ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. officials and other international allies of Israel are cynically placing blame on Hamas for a stall in current ceasefire negotiations — even as Israel has insisted on indefinitely continuing its massacre in Gaza and Hamas has said its main request is a guarantee that Israel would actually honor the ceasefire.
But reports from a wide variety of news sources on how both Israel and Hamas are approaching the ceasefire proposal suggest that Blinken is lying about which party is accepting of the deal. Indeed, reports have found that it is actually Israel that won’t agree to the deal’s framework: an immediate ceasefire with a limited prisoner and hostage exchange, then a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and ultimately the reconstruction of Gaza and return of Palestinians to their homes.
Israel’s insistence on continuing its genocide has been consistent throughout the last eight months, including in reaction to the most recent ceasefire proposals of the past weeks. Officials have said Israel will only stop bombarding Gaza when they decide that Hamas has been eliminated and Palestinians there no longer pose a threat to Israel — a pledge that requires the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians, as military procedures and Israel’s own public statements have shown.
But the main demand from Hamas appears to be straightforward, according to other officials familiar with the negotiations. Multiple outlets citing such sources have echoed what Hamas officials have said: that they are primarily concerned with getting guarantees from the U.S. and Israel that the deal will actually lead to a ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza.
Specifically, Hamas is concerned about a lack of assurances from the current proposal about the transition between the first and second phases of the plan, Reuters reports, citing multiple sources involved with the talks. The first phase involves a six-week ceasefire, with the release of some Israeli hostages, while the second phase calls for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli troop withdrawal.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/vNwMx
Guys, this war is not going to end before the US election, stop pretending: bibi and his fascist buddies want to get trump into the presidency so they can do whatever they want. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-israel-gaza-finish-problem-rcna141905
hamas thinks that more victims means more support for them and they are never going to surrender or hand over the hostages. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-chiefs-brutal-calculation-civilian-bloodshed-will-help-hamas-626720e7
PS: The disagreement in the negotiation is the ambiguity on the permanence of the cease fire: hamas wants guarantees that the war will not continue in the future. Biden is not in a position to give or force that guarantee if he loses. Israel does not want such a guarantee, because they think they can eventually exterminate hamas faster than the suffering of palestinians radicalizes new militants.
Netanyahu is already getting whatever he wants under Biden. Consider telling Biden to stop supporting the Genocide if you believe Netanyahu needs Trump for it.
And Hamas has already agreed to a permanent ceasefire in exchange for the hostages. It’s what this article is about.