Dan Williams | (TNS) Bloomberg News
Negotiations aimed at winding down Israel’s nine-month war on Hamas in Gaza face four key sticking points, including which hostages should be released, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
Other issues include whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks to his demands that Hamas be barred from northern Gaza, according to the people, who asked not be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. Additionally, Netanyahu wants his forces to retain control of a key southern border corridor and that he should not be bound to an indefinite cease-fire.
Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7, when it was attacked by thousands of terrorists who killed 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. The group returned 110 captives and Israel released about three times as many Palestinian detainees during a seven-day cease-fire that ended Dec. 1. U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled proposals for another truce May 31, but talks since then have failed to yield results.
Israel says 120 hostages remain in Gaza, 32 of them women, children and elderly or infirm men who should be freed during an initial six-week suspension of hostilities under Biden’s draft deal. However, two people briefed on the negotiations said Hamas is insisting it has only 18 living hostages in that cohort.
Israel has said Hamas should return men of military age to get closer to the quota of 32. Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union, has said a release of hostages in that category would only take place during a second stage of any cease-fire.
Netanyahu is also insisting on an independent mechanism to guarantee that no operatives from Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Iranian-backed militant group, or their weaponry be allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip, the people said. That demand appears to square with Biden’s proposal that “civilians” be allowed back to their homes.
However, one person briefed on the talks said that condition may be futile, because any undiscovered weapons caches that remain in the north could be accessed by fighters posing as civilians.
Another potential sticking point is a provision that requires Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza’s populated areas. While Hamas and Egypt have called for any withdrawal to include the southern city of Rafah and a nearby corridor on the border with Egypt, Netanyahu has said a continued Israeli presence is critical.
Under Biden’s proposals, on the 16th day of the initial truce Israel and Hamas would start mediated talks on a second stage. If those negotiations proved to be protracted, the initial truce would be extended beyond the allotted six weeks, according to the U.S. president.
Netanyahu’s administration is concerned Hamas could use this provision to extend the truce indefinitely and is therefore demanding a six-week cut-off, at which point hostilities could potentially resume.
The truce talks gained momentum after Hamas dropped objections to Biden’s proposed deal on July 7. Within days, negotiators met in Qatar and Egypt, which are leading the latest mediation efforts. Talks appeared to have slowed since the weekend, when Israel struck central Gaza in a bid to kill Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
“These discussions are ongoing,” David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. “We want to bring our people home and back to their families.”
Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, declined to comment. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week said there are “still miles to go” in the talks.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have died in the fighting, according to Hamas, which doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. Israel says it’s killed some 14,000 fighters.
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(With assistance from Fares Akram and Stuart Livingstone-Wallace.)
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