GAZA: The United States has sought to stitch together a Gaza ceasefire, but Israel and Hamas’s difficult-to-reconcile positions have cast doubt on that prospect since Israel launched the ongoing bombardment campaign more than eight months ago following Hamas’s October 7 attack.
“Conceptually, from the beginning, the talks have no chance of succeeding, because none of the two parties have any interest,” said Jamal Zaqout, an adviser to former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.
But Israeli and Palestinian leaders have also faced growing international as well as domestic pressure to strike a ceasefire deal.
In war-ravaged Gaza, Palestinian families keenly expect an end to the ongoing Israeli bombardment, and in Israel, the families of hostages have been pushing for an agreement to free them.
Mediated by Qatari, American and Egyptian mediators, a truce has repeatedly seemed within reach but failed to materialize.
US President Joe Biden at the end of May presented the latest proposal, a three-stage plan which he said Israel had offered.
The framework seemed similar to other proposals leaked during months of back-and-forth mediations in Paris, Cairo and Doha offering the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire, an increase in humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of Gaza.
In the weeks that followed, international leaders and institutions, including the UN Security Council on Monday, urged Israel to stop the bombardment campaign.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that some amendments proposed by Hamas “are workable and some are not”, without specifying.
Israel has never formally accepted the plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Biden’s proposal as “partial” and incompatible with meeting his government’s goals of defeating Hamas in Gaza.
In its communications, Hamas regularly insists on its conditions — a complete end to Israeli bombardment, total withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, a return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and the inviolability of Gaza’s borders.
In early May, Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire proposal, leading to celebrations on Gaza’s streets, but Netanyahu’s office said the proposal fell short of Israel’s essential demands.
“Netanyahu rejected it, because he wants this endless war to continue,” Zaqout said, adding: “He needs it to avoid being called to account for his failures and corruption cases” the premier has been fighting in court.
Since October 7 last year, the Israeli army has launched a devastating offensive on Gaza that has left at least 37,202 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
More than one month on, many Gazans are now desperate of the situation they find themselves in and some are openly criticizing Hamas.
“We are dead, we are destroyed, and our tragedies are countless,” said Abu Shaker, a resident of Rafah.
“What are you waiting for? The war must end at any cost. We can no longer bear it.”
