The Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as ruling out reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) before the end of President Joe Biden’s term next January.
Senior White House, State Department and Pentagon officials told the newspaper that it was unlikely that Israel and Hamas would agree to a ceasefire and prisoner release deal before the end of Biden’s term. The sources added that the percentage of Palestinian prisoners that Israel would have to release to return Israeli captives is a major sticking point.
They added that the two-day attack on Hezbollah using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies, followed by Israeli air strikes, made the possibility of a full-scale war more likely, complicating diplomatic efforts with Hamas.
“I can tell you that we do not believe the agreement is collapsing,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Thursday before the report was released.
New Israeli Proposal
These developments come hours after Israeli radio said yesterday that Israel is preparing a new proposal for an agreement on the Gaza Strip that it will present to mediators, stipulating the return of all prisoners at once.
The radio reported that the Israeli proposal calls for the return of all prisoners in exchange for the exit of Yahya Sinwar (head of Hamas’ political bureau) and others from Gaza through a safe passage.
This proposal also calls for ending the war and releasing Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli radio indicated that the new proposal may be presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly in a few days.
Hamas did not issue an immediate statement regarding the leaked new Israeli proposal, but it repeatedly stressed that it saw no reason for new proposals, especially since it had agreed to a plan presented by President Biden before Netanyahu set new conditions.
Issues that need to be resolved
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken revealed on Wednesday – during a visit to Cairo – that the United States had made progress regarding the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken added that 15 of the 18 items in the proposed ceasefire agreement had been agreed upon, but the remaining issues needed to be resolved.
He stressed that Washington had put forward ideas to the Qatari and Egyptian sides in order to resolve the outstanding issues, but the agreement goes back to the issue of political intention, and that the two parties to the conflict must prove political intention in order to reach an agreement that prepares for a ceasefire, returns prisoners to their homes, and opens important horizons for calming the hot spots, including northern Israel and the Red Sea.
It is noteworthy that the rounds of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas have been faltering for more than 10 months, due to Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing the war on Gaza, and his adherence to the Philadelphi and Netzarim axes in the south and center of the Palestinian Strip, while Hamas demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the return of the displaced without restrictions.
Despite Israeli obstacles, Egypt’s mediation continues alongside Qatar and the United States to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and conclude a prisoner exchange between the two parties.
Meanwhile, the families of Israeli prisoners continue their demonstrations to demand a ceasefire and an exchange deal. On Thursday, hundreds of Israelis demonstrated, at the invitation of the Prisoners’ Families Authority, in front of the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The Walla website reported that the demonstration came against the backdrop of the stalemate in the prisoner exchange deal negotiations, and the ambiguity imposed on them, in light of the escalation on the northern border and the transfer of the burden of the war to the north. The demonstrators demanded that the government approve the deal proposal on the table, and they also demanded the return of the prisoners from Gaza, and not to push towards a comprehensive war.