According to the concept presented to international mediators on Friday, seen by Reuters, the agreements will end with the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the demands as unrealistic.
Netanyahu’s stated goal is the destruction of Hamas. The Hamas plan envisages, as a first step, releasing women, children, elderly and sick people and female soldiers in their power. In return, Israel should release 700 to 1,000 Palestinians from prison. These include around a hundred people who were sentenced to life imprisonment. Hamas only wants to agree to a ceasefire once this first step has been agreed upon.
In a second step, a date will be set by which all Israeli soldiers must withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Only then does Hamas want to release all the remaining hostages.
Irreconcilable differences
Even with the new advance in the negotiations that have been going on for weeks, in which Israel and Hamas do not speak directly but through mediators, irreconcilable differences remain. Israel’s government does not want to end the war that began in October with the Hamas attack until the Islamist group has been completely destroyed. Hamas, on the other hand, insists that an agreement must end the war.
Because of these contradictions, a similar plan drawn up in Paris failed in February. The proposal at the time called for a 40-day suspension of all hostilities and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages.
The pressure on both sides is growing because there is a threat of a humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, which has already been extensively destroyed. The United Nations warns that at least 576,000 people are facing famine. According to Palestinian figures, civilians die every day, often in the three-digit range.
The Israeli army’s losses are also increasing, although to a much lesser extent. According to Palestinian figures, over 31,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far. According to Israeli figures, 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages were kidnapped in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which led to the war. Some of the hostages were released during a brief, so far only, ceasefire at the end of November in exchange for Palestinian prison inmates.
“Unrealistic demands”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said of Hamas’ plan that it was sticking to “unrealistic demands.” The pressure that Qatar is putting on Hamas as an intermediary between Israel and the Palestinian side is beginning to take effect, Netanyahu said, according to his office. Accordingly, the Gulf Emirate is said to have threatened to expel members of Hamas from Qatar and not give them any more money if they did not give in to the negotiations. The information might not initially be independently verified.
