A leading source in the Hamas movement told Al Jazeera on Monday that the “Israeli stance still places obstacles”.
The mediators presented a new proposal in the latest round of negotiation in Cairo between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas for a three-stage ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Al-Jazeera reported on Monday, citing informed sources.
According to the report, the proposal included:
The return of unarmed displaced civilians to the northern Gaza Strip without specifying their numbers.
The opening of Al-Rashid and Salah Al-Din Streets and the stationing of Israeli forces at a 500-meter distance.
The daily entry of 500 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, including the northern area.
The release of 900 Palestinian prisoners, including 100 with life sentences in the first stage, in exchange for the release of 40 living Israeli prisoners.
The release of all Israeli prisoners and the completion of negotiations to return to sustainable calm in the second phase.
The proposal did not include the number of Palestinian prisoners released in the second phase or details about Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the third phase.
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Israel ‘Places Obstacles’
A leading source in the Hamas movement told Al Jazeera on Monday that the “Israeli stance still places obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement.”
“The Israeli response we received does not include a permanent ceasefire or withdrawal from the Strip,” the top official reportedly said.
According to the Israeli response, “the return of the displaced is unsafe and occurs through crossings under the spears of the occupation.”
Additionally, “the Israeli response conditions the return of the displaced to shelters, not to their areas and homes,” according to the source.
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Israel’s Response
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted official sources as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “ordered the (Israeli negotiation) team not to express Israel’s agreement to the proposal.”
The sources added that Netanyahu does not agree with the American proposal, while most members of the war government supported it.
Netanyahu said in a video on Monday that he had received a report on the Cairo talks, adding that Israel was still working to achieve what he described as “complete victory.”
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Hamas is ‘Studying the Proposal’
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that CIA Director William Burns visited Cairo last weekend to conduct a round of discussions to release the detainees, noting that Hamas is currently studying a new proposal.
Kirby added that The United States hopes to reach a deal that would include a six-weeks ceasefire.
For its part, the CNN network quoted an informed source as saying that Burns presented a new proposal “to try to bridge the gaps in ongoing negotiations to broker a deal to bring about a ceasefire”.
“Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials, along with Burns, were in Cairo over the weekend for the negotiations,” the CNN reported.
“So far, Israel has rejected the Hamas demands (for) an unrestricted return of Gazans to the north and the redeployment of IDF (Israeli army – PC) troops away from central Gaza,” CNN reported, citing a source.
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Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 33,207 Palestinians have been killed, and 75,933 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
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The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(PC, AJA)
I expect Israel will one day be forced to accept anything Hamas puts forward. After a while, after its sterling effort at alienating anyone and everyone, Israel will be willing to accept the election of a blind, crippled donkey as its Prime Minister – anything for people to forget its crimes …