A senior Israeli official told AFP on Saturday that Hamas “hindered any possibility of agreement” truce in the Gaza Strip by insisting on an end to the war, in his discussions in Cairo with the mediators.
“Reports that Israel has agreed to end the war as part of a prisoner exchange deal or that Israel will allow mediation to ensure the war ends are inaccurate. So far, Hamas has not abandoned its demand for an end to the war and in doing so is hindering the possibility of reaching an agreement. truce, said this official who requested anonymity.
An official of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, for his part, indicated to AFP that the discussions on Saturday in Cairo with the mediators (Egypt, Qatar, United States) had not known “no development”. “Today’s (Saturday) negotiations are over and there will be a new round tomorrow” Sunday, he added, without further details.
Media reported Saturday morning that Washington had offered assurances to Hamas that Israel would agree to a ceasefire once a truce agreement was reached. For months, mediators have been overseeing indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel to achieve a truce in the Gaza Strip, where bombings and fighting have raged for nearly seven months.
Prisoner releases
This truce is supposed to include in particular a pause in the Israeli offensive and the release of Palestinian detainees in exchange for that of hostages kidnapped during the unprecedented attack carried out from the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian movement on October 7 in the south of Israel, which started the war. Since October 7, Israel and Hamas have concluded only one truce, at the end of November. It lasted a week and allowed the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis and dual nationals, exchanged for 240 Palestinians held by Israel.
On Friday, Hamas indicated that it was going to Cairo in a “positive spirit to reach an agreement”while specifying to remain “determined” to obtain “a total cessation of aggression” Israeli, “the withdrawal of the occupying forces” Israeli and “a serious exchange arrangement” hostages against Palestinian prisoners.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly repeats his determination to carry out a major offensive on Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip which he considers to be the last stronghold of Hamas, and rules out stopping the war before for having destroyed the Islamist movement. Words which, according to Hamas, “clearly aim to frustrate any possibility of agreement”.
Thousands of people, including relatives of hostages, demonstrated on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv to demand that the Netanyahu government conclude a truce agreement allowing the return of the hostages. A sign adorned with Benjamin Netanyahu’s portrait reads: “It’s you who undermines any agreement”.
