Israel’s closest ally is slowly losing patience. Prime Minister Netanyahu still insists on a military offensive. The news at a glance.
As disagreements between Israel and the United States over the approach to the Gaza war become more apparent, an Israeli delegation has once again headed to Doha to negotiate a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Led by the head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, the delegation is scheduled to meet in the Qatari capital with CIA Director William Burns, Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel.
The USA, Qatar and Egypt are mediating in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas that have been dragging on for several weeks. They aim for the Islamists to release 40 Israeli hostages during a six-week ceasefire. In return, Israel should release several hundred Palestinian prisoners from prisons. Hamas is also demanding that the Israeli military allow the Palestinians displaced into the south of the Gaza Strip to return to their homes in the center and north of the coastal area. Israel currently only wants to allow women and children to return.
Cautiously optimistic signals have recently come from Washington. “We believe that we are getting closer (to an agreement), that the differences are narrowing,” said John Kirby, US National Security Council communications director. The way the talks went was a “good sign”. However, there is no date for a conclusion, which can only occur once an agreement is reached on the entire package.
Dispute in the War Cabinet over room for maneuver
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong pressure in the war cabinet to expand the delegation’s negotiating powers for Doha. In the group in which ex-general Benny Gantz, who comes from the opposition, also sits, things were “dramatic” on Friday, reported the Channel 12 television station. The head of the domestic intelligence service Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, threatened not to comply To fly to Doha if the delegation to which he belongs is not allowed to negotiate more flexibly.
The Gaza war was triggered by the terrorist attack by Hamas and other groups in southern Israel on October 7th. The terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Israel attacked the coastal area to crush Hamas. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 32,000 Palestinians have died so far, although this number includes both civilians and fighters. According to Israeli estimates, just under 100 of the hostages that Hamas still holds after a first round of releases in November are still alive.
Open dispute with Washington over Rafah offensive
The course of the war, with many civilian deaths and massive destruction of residential buildings and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, is now met with strong international criticism. Even the United States, Israel’s closest ally, openly objects to Israel’s frequent restrictions on humanitarian access. Washington is particularly negative about the ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, which Netanyahu has repeatedly announced, in order to destroy the last four battalions of Hamas.
There are currently 1.5 million people living in the town on the border with Egypt. Most of them have fled from other parts of the Gaza Strip and live there in miserable conditions. “A major ground offensive (…) would risk the deaths of even more civilians, even greater chaos in the delivery of humanitarian aid,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to Tel Aviv. For Israel, it also means the risk of further global isolation.
International support is crumbling
Netanyahu repeatedly asserts that his military has plans for the safe evacuation of civilians from Rafah. “We have never seen such a credible plan,” said US Security Council spokesman Kirby. At the beginning of next week, Israel is to send high-level delegations to Washington to show the corresponding plans. The USA would like to show the Israelis options for defeating Hamas in Rafah without a ground offensive.
At Blinken’s meeting with the Israeli war cabinet, the diverging views clashed openly, as the news portal “Axios” reported, citing an unnamed source who is said to be familiar with the content of the conversation. Accordingly, Blinken warned Israel not to continue the war without a clear strategy. If it continues as it is, Hamas would remain in control of the Gaza Strip or anarchy would break out, which would breed more terrorism. According to the source, Netanyahu responded that “we will have our hands full for decades.”
UN Security Council struggles for resolution for ceasefire
The UN Security Council wants to deal again with the situation in Gaza. According to media reports, the committee will also vote on a new resolution. The draft resolution calls for an “immediate ceasefire for the (Muslim fasting) month of Ramadan that is respected by all sides.” This should lead to a “permanent and sustainable ceasefire,” it said. The draft also calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and emphasizes the need to increase aid deliveries to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution should be introduced by non-permanent members of the most powerful UN body. However, it was considered likely that the USA, which remains Israel’s protecting power in the body, would block the decision with its veto. Just a day earlier, the veto powers Russia and China had failed a resolution proposed by Washington that was much more comprehensive but also called for a ceasefire.
This will be important today
UN Secretary-General António Guterres wants to travel to the region and pay a visit to the Egyptian side of the border near Rafah, a spokesman for the organization announced in New York on Friday. The program includes a meeting with humanitarian aid workers from the UN organizations. Guterres is considered a critic of the Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip. It was said that he would not go to the coastal area itself.