On the day that Egyptian officials were in Israel to talk about their mediation efforts with Hamas and about Israeli plans to displace the 1.5 million Palestinians who have taken shelter in Rafah, they were told by the Israelis that they are only willing to give “one last chance” to negotiations to reach a ceasefire and hostage release agreement before moving forward with the announced ground offensive in the city located on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Words of optimism once again arrived from Washington, with the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, assuring that “there is a new dynamic, a new life” in the talks. “I believe there is a renewed effort underway involving Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel, to try to find a way forward,” he said in an interview with MSNBC television channel.
“Israel told Egypt that it is serious about preparations for the Rafah operation and that it will not let Hamas drag out” the negotiations any further, reported the North American website Axios. Israeli Channel 12 confirmed that the Government made it clear to the Egyptians that the message they have for Yahya Sinwar, top leader of Hamas in Gaza, is that there are only two alternatives: “either an agreement in the near future, or Rafah”.
When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have just announced that they are preparing to send two reserve brigades to the Gaza Strip, and signs of preparations – including newly erected camps in areas close to Rafah – for the operation intensify, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government takes advantage of all channels to put pressure on Hamas. Rafah is not only where the Israelis want to destroy four of the six battalions they say Hamas has left – it is also in its tunnels that they think they can find Sinwar, who they consider the architect of the October 7th attacks.
After Hamas made it clear that it was unable to identify 40 hostages still alive who fit the “humanitarian” criteria established in the negotiations (women, children, elderly people and people in need of medical care) that it would release in the first phase of an agreement (in exchange of 400 Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire lasting several weeks), the Israeli press writes that the Government’s demands have been reduced to 33 hostages – but that Hamas has suggested in recent indirect contacts that it can only release 20.
At the same time, Israel has already agreed to a demand from the Palestinian movement, accepting that when a truce is declared, the hundreds of thousands of people who fled the North of the Gaza Strip in the first weeks of the war will be able to return to their homes or whatever. remain.
None of this means that Israel and Hamas are close to reaching any kind of agreement, notes the daily The Times of Israelwith Channel 12 explaining that Netanyahu agreed to insist on negotiations and postpone the offensive in Rafah for fear that it would do even more damage to the country’s already fragile current international reputation.
