A day after hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrated for the end of the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, Hamas announced on Monday that he would agree with a proposal for a new cease-fire. Yet the question is whether the Israeli government will agree.
In this latest proposal from Egyptian and Qatarese mediators, the weapons will be laid down for sixty days, according to insiders to international media. In addition, Hamas will release ten living Israeli hostages – about half -. A number of the bodies of thirty deceased hostages will also be returned by Hamas. In return, Israel will release Palestinian prisoners and partially withdraw his army from Gaza and let more humanitarian aid into the coastal strip. At the same time, negotiations will be made about a permanent end to the war and the return of all hostages.
The proposal is similar to previously stranded plans that were there for a truce, during negotiations in May and July about a proposal from the American envoy Steve Witkoff. But what makes the current initiative possibly promising is that Hamas, which is under pressure by the upcoming Israeli offensive against Gaza city, is willing to make new concessions.
Highways
The pain points for those failed negotiations included the precise number of Palestinian prisoners that would be released, where the Israeli army would withdraw and the size of an Israeli buffer zone within the Gaza strip-the area around the border where buildings are blown up and Palestinians are no longer allowed to come.
By agreeing with the current proposal, Hamas would now agree to ’98 percent’ of Witkoff’s plan, according to a diplomatic source against the Financial Times and the news site Axios. A plan whose conditions were previously accepted by the Israeli government.
Netanyahu and the Israeli government are under pressure to end the war in Gaza
Although Israel still has to officially respond to the proposal for a ceasefire, the Prime Minister suggested last week in an interview with the Israeli news channel I24 News that he is no longer interested in a deal that only releases a part of the hostages. Israel would only be willing to stop the war in Gaza if all the held Israelis come home in one go.
Netanyahu itself did not seem to be impressed on Monday that Hamas agreed with the proposal for a cease-fire. It will especially make it clear that “Hamas is under huge pressure,” said a video released by his employee. He also announced that he had discussed the plans to take Gaza city with his army leadership.
Yet Netanyahu and the Israeli government themselves are also under pressure to end the war in Gaza. In total, more than a million Israelis would have protested through the country against the continuation of the war, according to the Forum for Families of Gijzelaars and Missing, that organized the demonstration. Israelis stopped en masse on the first day of the Jewish working week and activists blocked highways. Dozens of people were arrested. The hostage forum calls on to demonstrate again next Sunday.
“No mandate”
Only Netanyahu seems to be less and less concerned about both domestic and foreign pressure. About the demonstrations he said on Sunday that they only play Hamas in the card and pave the road for new attacks such as those of 7 October. And while the ruthless Israeli warfare in Gaza has led to the likely recognition of the Palestinian state by France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia in September, the government of Netanyahu further presses the gas pedal with the new military plans for Gaza City.
In the end you never know with Netanyahu, says the left Israeli newspaper Haaretz. An indication that the prime minister may nevertheless respond positively to the proposal for a cease-fire, is the displeasure of extreme right-wing ministers in his cabinet.
For example, Ben GVIR (National Security) wrote on social media on Monday that Netanyahu at all has “no mandate for closing a partial deal”. Moreover, such a deal would “abandon half of the hostages,” said Finance Minister Gezalel Smotrich. Nevertheless, Gila Gamliel, Minister of Science and an ally of Netanyahu, appeared on TV on TV at Kanaal 14 on Tuesday with the message that the government is still ‘looking’ what she will say about a proposal for the cease-fire.