Ammon News - US and Israeli officials are voicing increased optimism about the prospects of a ceasefire and hostage deal being agreed to end the war in Gaza as the families of hostages being held by Hamas say that occupation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must take the deal on offer.
Efforts to secure an agreement have been ongoing for months and picked up renewed momentum in late May after US President Joe Biden laid out the details of a plan to bring home the hostages and eventually bring about an end to the war.
Now, as Netanyahu prepares to deliver a high-stakes speech to Congress on Wednesday and meet with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, US officials claim a final deal is within reach. For the families of the hostages held more than nine months in Gaza, there is no time to wait.
On Monday, Biden said he believed the different parties were on the “verge of being able to” secure a deal to bring home the hostages and end the war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that they are “inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line in getting an agreement that would produce a ceasefire, get the hostages home, and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability.”
US officials insist that Israel and Hamas have both agreed to the broad framework of a deal, but specifics and crucial technicalities need to be hammered out. Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been leading efforts to finalize those details.
A source familiar with the negotiations said on Tuesday that an Israeli delegation that was expected to leave on Thursday to transmit the latest Israeli response to the mediators is likely to delay its trip until at least Friday as a result of Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden being postponed until Thursday afternoon. The Israeli prime minister wants to meet with Biden before the Israeli delegation formally transmits its response to the mediators, the source said.
The Israeli response is expected to include Netanyahu’s eleventh-hour demands regarding barring armed men from northern Gaza and Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor – key sticking points in the negotiations. If Hamas agrees to those demands, a deal is likely to follow.
“If Hamas will say yes, there will be a deal,” the source said.
The latest Israeli response will also coincide with the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, going into recess next week. That will make it harder for any right-wing opponents of the deal to move to collapse the government. US officials have been sensitive to the Knesset recess as they remain convinced that politics are at play for Netanyahu back in Israel.
Still, as Israel prepares to transmit its response, it has become increasingly clear to multiple parties involved that clinching a ceasefire now depends on the Israeli prime minister and his government.
‘Remaining issues’
On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they “have significantly narrowed the disagreements between the parties,” but there are “a few remaining issues that need to be resolved.”
“We continue discussions with the other mediators, and with the Government of Israel to try to reach resolution, but we don’t have that yet, and I don’t have any kind of forecast about when we might come to one,” Miller said.
According to an official from a mediating country, the latest proposal from Hamas earlier this month “was very close” to the Israeli position from late May so when Hamas responded, it was believed that Israel’s reaction “would be positive and ready to move forward” with technical teams dispatched to iron out the final details.
There’s also significant debate around the Philadelphi corridor and Rafah border crossing, both located between Egypt and Gaza. Netanyahu has argued Israel troops will not withdraw from the nine-mile-long Philadelphi corridor while Hamas has insisted on a full eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and their response, according to a source familiar, is expected to stick to that demand.
A central sticking point has been whether a first pause in the fighting would flow seamlessly into a permanent ceasefire, something Israel has rejected. The Biden framework – and a UN resolution that followed – says the first phase will continue as long discussions do over a second phase. That, theoretically, could mean talks could break down and fighting resumes.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in Gaza remains dire and US officials involved in the humanitarian and security efforts have grown increasingly frustrated by Israeli aggression in recent weeks.
If a first phase of the ceasefire is launched, Hamas is expected to release just over 30 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Biden’s natioanl security advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged on Friday that the exact numbers and type of Palestinian prisoners to be released need to be finalized. There is still discussion around the number of vetoes Israel would have over Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants released, with an expectation that Israel would oppose more hardened prisoners serving longer – or life – sentences, according to details provided by the official from a mediating country, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
As negotiations on the deal continue, there are also ongoing discussions about security, humanitarian aid, and governance once an agreement is put into place. Those discussions will continue with Netanyahu this week.
US and Egyptian officials have begun preparing the flood of humanitarian aid that would enter Gaza if a ceasefire deal goes into effect. Egypt has worked to pre-position nearly 200,000 metric tons of supplies in the northern Egyptian city of el-Arish, one official familiar with the matter said, and talks to prepare for the enormous logistical effort have intensified in the last week.
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