Towards a truce in Gaza? Israel announced that it was waiting “until Wednesday evening” for a response from Hamas to its offer, after almost seven months of war. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken said on Monday that he “hoped” for a favorable response from the Palestinian movement to a proposal that he described as “extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel”. What is this offer and in what context was it made? We take stock.
What is the proposal?
Israel has proposed a 40-day truce, associated with the release of hostages held in Gaza since the start of the war in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by the Jewish state. This proposal follows months of deadlock in indirect negotiations. A one-week truce allowed the release of 105 hostages at the end of November, including 80 Israelis and dual nationals exchanged for 240 Palestinians detained by Israel.
American pressure
American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Jordan on Tuesday, called on Hamas to accept “without further delay” the truce proposal prepared by the mediators and submitted Monday to the Palestinian movement. “No more delays, no more excuses. The time to act is now,” he declared shortly before his departure for Israel. “We want to see this agreement come to fruition in the coming days.”
The offensive on Rafah
But in parallel with these hopes of a truce, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that his army would enter “with or without” a truce in the town of Rafah, bordering Egypt, considered by Israel as the last bastion of Hamas. “The idea that we are going to stop the war before we have achieved all of our objectives is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there, with or without (a truce) agreement, in order to achieve total victory,” Netanyahu told hostage relatives in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Many capitals, starting with Washington, and humanitarian organizations fear massive civilian losses in the event of an offensive on this city which has become a refuge for a million and a half Palestinians. Such an offensive would represent an “intolerable escalation,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday.
A response from Hamas “as quickly as possible”
The mediating countries (Egypt, Qatar, United States) are now awaiting a response from the Islamist movement to this truce proposal. After a meeting on Monday in Cairo with representatives of Egypt and Qatar, a Hamas delegation returned to Doha on Tuesday to study the new truce proposal and should give its response “as quickly as possible”, according to a source close to the movement.
Hamas is particularly demanding a permanent ceasefire before any agreement on the release of the hostages, which Israel has always refused. Its demands also relate to “an (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, a clear timetable for the start of reconstruction and an exchange agreement that removes all injustice towards Palestinian detainees, men and women” , according to one of the negotiators, Zaher Jabareen.