Negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire continue to hit stumbling blocks, with the terrorist group’s leaders holding out for guarantees of safety among other demands.
"Sinwar emphasizes that the security of his life and well-being must be ensured," an Egyptian official told Israeli outlet Ynet. The officials noted that Sinwar has delivered short and clear messages to avoid confusion as they pass through the "many hands" involved in discussions.
American, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials have pursued cease-fire talks in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week "accepted" the deal, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but reports indicated that Hamas representatives found the deal wholly unsatisfying.
"The Americans are offering promises, not guarantees," an unnamed Egyptian official told The Associated Press. "Hamas won’t accept this, because it virtually means Hamas will release the civilian hostages in return for a six-week pause of fighting with no guarantees for a negotiated permanent cease-fire."
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He also said the proposal doesn’t clearly say Israel will withdraw its forces from two strategic corridors in Gaza, the Philadelphi corridor alongside Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. Israel has offered to downsize its forces in the Philadelphi corridor, with "promises" to withdraw from the area, he said.
Egyptian officials have taken issue with how Netanyahu has acted publicly regarding negotiations. Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told Blinken in a recent meeting that "even if Netanyahu intended to reach temporary understandings with Egypt, he shouldn't have done it publicly and in the way he did."
Egypt also continues to press the Palestinian Authority to handle the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, and Israel has rejected Egyptian proposals for a multinational task force that would handle the Philadelphi corridor.
Chief among the demands remains Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar’s insistence on guarantees of his safety. Sinwar took over as the top official of the terrorist group after former chief Ismail Haniyeh died last month in an explosion in Tehran, for which Iranian officials have blamed Israel.
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An Israeli official told The Times of Israel, "We are fighting Hamas as if there are no negotiations, and we are negotiating as if there is no war," citing Netanyahu's position "that we must apply military and diplomatic pressure on Hamas to reach a deal." However, the official stressed that Netanyahu stands behind the U.S.-offered "bridging deal" offered last week in Doha, Qatar.
"So long as Hamas doesn't agree to a deal, we will continue fighting," the official said. "Of course, if there is a deal, there will be a lull in the fighting in the first stage. But we will continue fighting until we achieve all of our war aims."
Sinwar called the tens of thousands killed during Israel’s campaign in Gaza "necessary sacrifices," pointing to the deaths in Algeria in their fight for independence from France as an example.
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"We have Israelis right where we want them," Sinwar said in messages to Hamas officials involved in negotiations in June, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal reviewed messages between Sinwar and negotiators in which the Hamas official made clear he believed Israel had more to lose from the war.
Sinwar had made similar comments about his sons' deaths, claiming their sacrifices "infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honor."
Some of Hamas' supporters around the Arab region have also started to question the logic behind Sinwar's push, with Palastinian-Syrian commentator Mohamad Kial claiming that "10 times the number of Palestinians killed during the four years" of the second intifada have died since Oct. 7, equating to around a rate of one Israeli for every 30 Palestinians."
"It is puzzling how the 'resistance' forces who place risky bets on internal crises in Israel fail to see – or do not want to see – that the Palestinian situation is in free fall and have no understanding of the international and regional facts that tend to Israel's side," Kial wrote in an article published in an Arab media outlet, according to Haaretz.
Sinwar also claimed that "Israel’s journey in Rafah won’t be a walk in the park," but Israel on Wednesday claimed that "the [Hamas] Rafah brigade has been defeated, and over 150 tunnels have been destroyed in the region."
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant during a situational assessment with senior IDF officials in Gaza said, "It is critical to remember the goals of the war and to achieve them – regarding Hamas, regarding the hostages [held by Hamas], and we also understand why we are looking toward the north."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
