More than 130 hostages are still held by Hamas. They demand a withdrawal of Israel’s army. Israel rejects this. But things could now be moving. The overview.
While war continues in the Gaza Strip, new efforts to release the hostages and end the fighting are underway in the background. US President Joe Biden’s Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk is expected to attend talks in Egypt and Qatar this week, according to US media reports.
The United States and its Arab partners pushed Israel and the Islamist Hamas into a gradual process that would initially include the release of hostages and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip with the aim of ending the war, the Wall Street Journal reported. The talks are still in an early phase and should continue in Cairo in the coming days.
Relatives urge Israel’s head of government to agree to hostage agreement
Meanwhile, relatives of the more than 130 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip also want to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas. As the newspaper “The Times of Israel” reported that night, relatives pitched tents on a sidewalk in front of Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem. A spokesman was quoted as saying that they would stay until Netanyahu “agreed to an agreement to return the hostages.”
“We love our children more than we hate Hamas,” read a poster posted on the tents, the newspaper reported. The Israeli government believes that some of the hostages are no longer alive.
Netanyahu strictly rejects Hamas’ conditions
Netanyahu had categorically rejected Hamas’ conditions. In exchange for the hostages’ release, the Islamists demanded an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the continued rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said. They also called for the release of the “murderers and rapists” whom Israel arrested after the brutal attack by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th. “If we agreed to this, our soldiers would have died in vain,” Netanyahu said, adding that they would then be unable to “ensure the safety of our citizens.”
Report: Israel and Hamas ready for talks
Israel and Hamas are at least ready to talk again after talks stalled for weeks following the end of a week-long ceasefire in November, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing circles familiar with the talks. During the ceasefire at the end of November, 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The willingness of both sides to talk about the framework conditions is a positive step, the US newspaper quoted a source as saying. The mediators are now working to bridge the gap, it said.
US coordinator travels to Middle East for negotiations
Biden’s Middle East coordinator McGurk will meet the head of the Egyptian secret service in the capital Cairo this week, the New York Times reported that night, citing US officials. McGurk, who planned to leave on Sunday, would later travel to Doha to meet Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The trip was part of a renewed push by the US government to reach a hostage agreement, wrote the news portal Axios. US officials have acknowledged that such an agreement could be the only path that could lead to a ceasefire.
So far, however, Netanyahu has appeared unyielding. He said on Sunday that he was working “around the clock” to free the hostages. “But let’s be clear: I reject the Hamas monsters’ terms of surrender in the strongest possible terms.” The right-wing politician had repeatedly emphasized that the war in Gaza would continue “until complete victory, until we have achieved all of our goals.”
Protests against Netanyahu
This includes Netanyahu dismantling Hamas, returning all remaining hostages and ensuring that the Gaza Strip never poses a threat to Israel again. However, Netanyahu is under great pressure domestically. Thousands of people in Israel called for an end to the fighting to free the hostages over the weekend. The Israeli broadcaster i24news quoted the brother of a hostage still held in Gaza last night as saying: “I want to believe that the government knows that if they don’t release the hostages and they… “Don’t come back alive.”
Report: Hamas is far from defeated
Meanwhile, the Israeli armed forces continue fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The British broadcaster BBC reported that night, citing US intelligence services, that the Israeli military has so far killed 20 to 30 percent of the Hamas fighters in Gaza. This means that the army is far from Netanyahu’s stated goal of “completely destroying” Hamas.
More than three months after the outbreak of war, Israel’s army is still facing significant resistance throughout the Gaza Strip despite vastly superior firepower, the broadcaster reported, citing a US intelligence report. Accordingly, Hamas still has enough ammunition to attack Israel and its armed forces for months. In addition, not a single senior Hamas commander has been captured or killed in Gaza so far.
What is important today
The foreign ministers of the EU states want to discuss with colleagues from the Middle East about possible initiatives for a lasting settlement of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Abul Gheit, as well as the foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are expected to attend the talks in Brussels.
In addition, exchanges with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and the Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Riad Malki, are also planned in separate rounds. Meanwhile, the US government’s Middle East coordinator is expected to hold talks about a hostage deal in Egypt and Qatar.