Israel’s demands for keeping military presence in Gaza blocking ceasefire deal
Secretary Antony Blinken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. (Photo: U.S. State Department, via Wikimedia commons)

Israel’s demands for keeping military presence in Gaza blocking ceasefire deal

Posted: Friday 08.23.2024 6:21 am Palestine, U.S.A, World

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Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to 10 sources familiar with the round of U.S.-mediated talks that concluded last week.
Sources, who include two Hamas officials and three Western diplomats, told Reuters the disagreements stemmed from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted a version of a ceasefire proposal unveiled by President Biden in May.
All the sources told Reuters that Hamas was especially concerned about the latest demand by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to keep Israeli forces deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, an east-west strip Israel occupied during the current war that prevents Palestinians’ free movement between north and south Gaza, as well as in a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
The sources asked Reuters not to be named to speak freely about sensitive matters.
Israeli occupation forces’ current grip on the Philadelphi Corridor gives it control of Gaza’s border with Egypt, the enclave’s only crossing that does not border Israel.
Hamas sees Israel as having changed its conditions and parameters “last-minute” and worries any concessions it makes would be met by more demands, one of the sources, who is close to the talks, told Reuters.
Reuters reported that Hamas’ media office did not respond to requests for comment for this story and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office did not respond to questions about the talks either.
In a press statement on Sunday, Hamas said the proposal arising from last week’s talks was too close to Netanyahu’s recent positions setting new conditions. It urged the mediators to stick to the implementation of a July version of the framework agreement, rather than starting new negotiations.
In a statement prior to the talks last week, Netanyahu’s office denied making new demands, saying his position built on the previous proposal.
In the statement, the office said Israel’s May proposal stated that only unarmed civilians would be allowed to return to the northern part of Gaza, crossing the Netzarim Corridor.
The office said Israel’s new proposal, first presented at a meeting of mediators in Rome on July 27, was that an agreed-upon mechanism should be established to assure this, implying but not specifically mentioning an Israeli military presence at Netzarim to prevent the movement of Hamas fighters.
According to a second source close to the talks, Israel proposed that an agreement for the return of non-combatants to the north half of Gaza would be agreed upon “at a later date.”
That was seen by some of the mediators and Hamas as Israel backtracking on a previous commitment to withdraw from the Netzarim corridor and allow free movement inside Gaza, the source said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a whirlwind trip to the region on Tuesday, seeking a breakthrough. After meeting Netanyahu, Blinken said Israel had accepted a new U.S. proposal aimed at narrowing differences between Israel’s and Hamas’ latest positions. He urged Hamas to do the same.
“Once that happens we also have to complete the detailed implementation agreements that go along with putting the ceasefire into effect,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The two sides have not released what Blinken called a bridging proposal, and Reuters has not seen a copy.
One Western diplomat, describing Israel’s latest demands in the U.S.-led talks, said it appeared the United States had accepted changes proposed by Netanyahu, including on a continued Israeli military deployment in the two corridors.
One U.S. official disputed that suggestion, saying the negotiations on the “implementation” would aim to hash out disagreements over the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, the number of Palestinian prisoners and who to release among other topics.
Blinken also pushed back on any suggestion of Israeli troops occupying Gaza on a long term basis, saying at the press conference that the schedule and location of Israeli military withdrawals were very clear in the agreement.
U.S. bridging proposal
The next round of talks is expected in Cairo in the coming days, based around the U.S. bridging proposal.
The lead U.S. negotiator, CIA director Bill Burns, his Israeli counterpart, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt’s lead negotiator are expected to attend, the source close to the talks said. Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed is expected to visit Tehran before heading to Cairo, the source said. An Iranian source said Sheikh Mohammed was due to visit on Monday.
Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to questions. The CIA declined to comment in line with its policy of not disclosing Burns’ travel.
Two of the Hamas officials said the U.S. proposal contained some of the Israeli changes they reject, including allowing “Israel’s continued military presence” along the crossings and releasing some Palestinian prisoners into exile, rather than to Gaza or the West Bank, in any swap for hostages.
However, a senior U.S. administration official said there was nothing in the bridging proposal that changed previously agreed commitments on the Netzarim Corridor. The official said any temporary arrangements on the Philadelphi Corridor must be consistent with Israel’s May 27 text and the outline put forth by Biden, as endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
The proposal includes “massive and immediate benefits” for the people of Gaza and incorporates a number of Hamas’ earlier demands, the official said.
Two of the sources, security officials in Egypt, told Reuters that Israel and Hamas appeared willing to resolve differences in all areas other than that of the Israeli withdrawal.
The two Hamas officials told Reuters the U.S. bridging plan “does not include a permanent ceasefire.”
In the May proposal, Biden said a temporary ceasefire would become a permanent cessation of hostilities, “as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments.”
The Hamas officials said Israel had also imposed a veto on the release of around 100 Palestinian prisoners whose names Hamas proposed, some elderly and with more than 20 years remaining on their sentences.
The issue of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of a swap deal for hostages Hamas has held in Gaza since Oct. 7 had previously been seen as less difficult.
A main sticking point at present is an Israeli position that many of the prisoners it releases should be immediately deported and go into exile outside Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, the Western diplomat and the two Hamas officials said.
“In light of this, Hamas refused to accept the American-Israeli paper,” one of the officials said.

Israel denies it’s considering accepting international force on Egypt-Gaza border

On Thursday, Netanyahu  denied reports suggesting Israel is considering agreeing to the deployment of an international force along a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu insists on the principle that Israel will control the Philadelphi Corridor to prevent the rearmament of Hamas, which would allow them to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7,” his office said in a statement.

Rights groups express renewed concerns about humanitarian situation in Gaza as Israel issues more evacuation orders

On Thursday, rights groups expressed renewed concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza after Israel’s latest evacuation orders in parts of the overcrowded central city of Deir al-Balah.

The polio virus has been circulating in the battered Palestinian enclave for the first time in 25 years, relief organization the International Rescue Committee said in a statement. It said the spread resulted from the destruction of hospitals and water infrastructure, along with overcrowded living conditions.

“The news of polio in Gaza should be an alarm bell that more infectious diseases are on the way,” Dr. Jude Senkugu, the group’s emergency health coordinator in the territory, said in the statement. “Without clean water, it is nearly impossible to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, as people do not have enough to drink, leaving them with no other choice but to drink contaminated water.”

Meanwhile, international medical organization Doctors Without Borders warned that shrinking living spaces would cause diseases to spread faster.

The majority of Gaza’s population of about 2 million have been displaced in the ongoing Hamas-Israel war since Oct. 7, often more than once. Israel has scaled up its evacuation orders over the past month.

“There is no room to put tents up,” Doctors Without Borders’ project coordinator Jacob Granger said in a statement. “The overcrowding, severe lack of water and minimal sanitation services are fueling the spread of diseases. We are unable to keep up with the overwhelming needs.”

Both organizations have echoed calls from global aid agencies for an immediate cease-fire.

– Wire news services contributed to this report. Edited for style.

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