Israel is said to have given the Islamists an ultimatum for an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of further hostages. Is there now a breakthrough in Cairo? The events at a glance.
Before a new round of negotiations in the Gaza war, the Islamist Hamas has signaled that it will give in. There are still points to be discussed and clarifications to be made, but overall they are traveling to Cairo with a “positive attitude” to the indirect negotiations in order to reach an agreement, Hamas circles said on Friday evening. The Islamist organization confirmed that a delegation would arrive in the Egyptian capital on Saturday. According to the media, indirect negotiations on the release of hostages and a ceasefire will continue this weekend. William Burns, head of the US secret service CIA, arrived in Cairo on Friday, the news portal “Axios” reported, citing three sources familiar with the process. However, a senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel that a deal was imminent.
Report: Israel gave Hamas one more week
“Even if the mediators express optimism, Israel has not yet heard that Hamas is ready to move away from its maximum positions,” the official was quoted as saying early Saturday morning. Israeli broadcaster Kan reported, citing a Palestinian source, that the Hamas delegation would not provide a response to the latest proposal for a deal in Cairo. According to the source, the delegation wants to continue negotiations. One of their most important demands is a guarantee that Israel will agree to an end to the war in return for the release of hostages.
Israel has given Hamas a week to agree to a ceasefire agreement, Egyptian officials familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Otherwise, Israel will launch the announced ground offensive on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. According to the newspaper, Egypt worked with Israel to prepare a revised ceasefire proposal, which it presented to Hamas last weekend.
Hamas’ exiled political leadership was expected to consult and respond to its Gaza military wing led by Jihia al-Sinwar, the newspaper wrote. But Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in Hamas tunnels under the sealed-off coastal area and making the final decisions, did not respond, they said. Egyptian officials then brought the message from Israel to Hamas on Thursday. This would mean Hamas would have until next week to agree to a deal. On Friday evening, Hamas circles said the answer would be “positive.” The Times of Israel quoted a statement from the terrorist organization early Saturday morning as saying that they are determined to reach an agreement that meets the demands of the Palestinians.
Report: Signs of Hamas giving in
The subject of the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, in which Egypt, Qatar and the USA are mediating, is a proposal that envisages the release of hostages held by Hamas and the cessation of hostilities by Israel in several phases, the news portal reported ” Axios”. Similar attempts had failed in the past because Hamas made Israel’s final end to the war a condition for even a partial release of hostages. Most recently, observers had assumed that Hamas would also reject this multi-stage mediation proposal.
However, according to Axios, senior Israeli officials have now recognized “first signs” that the Islamists could agree to the first phase of the deal – the release of women, children, elderly and injured among the hostages during a temporary ceasefire – without to insist, as before, that Israel commits itself from the outset to ending the war. From the outset, Israel’s leadership insisted on a multi-stage agreement in order to reserve the option to continue the war if no further agreements were reached after the first hostage releases and a limited ceasefire. At the same time, the Islamists would exact a price for giving in. “Hamas (…) could reduce the agreed number of hostages it releases on humanitarian grounds and, in turn, increase the number of Palestinian prisoners (in Israeli prisons) to be released,” wrote “Axios.”
WHO warns of “bloodbath” in Rafah
The Israeli government had announced a rapid start to the military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza if an agreement was not reached. Allies such as the United States have repeatedly warned Israel against a large-scale attack on Rafah because more than 1.2 million Palestinian civilians are seeking shelter there, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). After around seven months of war, the city, which borders Egypt, is the only one in Gaza that is still comparatively intact. The WHO warned of the consequences of an offensive. The organization is deeply concerned that a large-scale military operation “could lead to a bloodbath,” it said on Friday evening on X, formerly Twitter.
On Friday, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq, citing the UN Children’s Fund, drew particular attention to the fate of around 600,000 children in the city that borders Egypt. Almost all of them are “either injured, sick, malnourished, traumatized or disabled.” An offensive would spell further disaster for them, Haq said. According to the WHO, only a third of the 36 hospitals across the Gaza Strip are still partially functioning. Three of them are in Rafah.
The war was triggered by the massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7th last year. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive in Gaza. Given the high number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation, Israel has come under international criticism. The Hamas-controlled health authority recently reported the number of people killed in Gaza since the start of the war at 34,596. The number does not distinguish between civilians and armed people and is difficult to verify independently.
UN accuses Israeli civilians of damaging aid deliveries
The United Nations has meanwhile accused Israeli civilians of vandalizing aid supplies from Jordan destined for the Gaza Strip. The convoy was carrying food parcels including sugar, rice, supplementary food and milk powder, Haq said. A limited amount of it was unloaded and damaged by Israeli civilians while traveling through the West Bank on Thursday. This incident will initially have no impact on further aid deliveries from Jordan. The relief supplies have now arrived in Gaza and are being distributed as planned, it said.