Gaza ceasefire deal 'unlikely' as Israel sticks to conditions

Sources say Netanyahu government refuses to relinquish control of Rafah crossing

An Israeli tank is seen next to destroyed buildings during a ground operation in southern Gaza. AFP

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Israel has put forward conditions in the latest negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza that could prevent a deal from being reached, sources said on Monday.

They told The National that Israel has not moved from its position on almost all the contentious issues in the talks, including whether to withdraw all its troops from Gaza or relinquish control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Its positions are unlikely to be accepted by Hamas, the sources said.

They said the Israeli positions were presented informally during the latest talks, which are taking place in Cairo and Doha.

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are negotiating with representatives from Israel and Hamas ahead of another top-level round of talks expected this week involving CIA director William Burns, his Egyptian and Israeli counterparts, the Qatari Prime Minister and senior Hamas officials.

The latest talks come after Hamas softened its stance on the ceasefire proposals unveiled by US President Joe Biden on May 31. It has dropped its previous demand that it would not sign a deal unless Israel first agreed in writing to a permanent ceasefire.

The Palestinian group now says it wants guarantees by the mediators that talks on reaching a permanent ceasefire begin as soon as the initial 42-day truce prescribed by the proposals takes hold.

Hamas has also said it would accept the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for the freedom of hostages it is holding to be staggered over the three phases of the proposals.

However, the militant group has demanded that detainees of its choosing are released, including high-profile figures, such as Marwan Al Barghouti, a senior figure from the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction who is seen widely as a possible successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel has yet to formally respond to the latest Hamas positions but the sources said its conditions have been relayed to the mediators.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Sunday that reiterated his opposition to a permanent ceasefire with Hamas, prompting criticism from opposition leaders that he was putting the lives of the hostages held by Hamas at risk.

However, Mr Netanyahu sent his spy chief, Mossad director David Barnea, to Qatar on a lightning visit last week. He sent domestic security chief, Shin Bet’s Ronen Bar, to Cairo on Monday.

The sources said Israel's conditions, which roughly mirror Mr Netanyahu's often repeated comments on the war, were unlikely to be accepted by Hamas.

They include a refusal to fully withdraw from Gaza and an insistence on retaining a postwar security role there, the sources said.

Israel also wants to remain in control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and the narrow strip inside the enclave that runs the entire length of the 13km Egypt-Gaza border.

Israel captured both the Gaza side of the crossing and the border strip in May, angering Egypt, which responded by closing the crossing.

The issue is high on the agenda of the talks that began in Cairo on Monday, said the sources.

“Israel wants the Rafah crossing and the border strip controlled and run by an international contingent, as well as retaining a say in what goes on there,” said one source. “It claims this is necessary to stop the smuggling of weapons through underground tunnels from Egypt and into Hamas's hands.”

Egypt has categorically denied these allegations.

Israel also vehemently objects to the number of Palestinian detainees Hamas wants freed in exchange for the hostages – about 121, including about 40 who died in captivity – and refuses to free some of the high-profile inmates it has, the sources said.

It wants some of those prominent detainees to leave the Palestinian territories upon their release and live in exile, a notion Hamas has rejected in previous rounds of talks.

Israel also wants Palestinians displaced in Gaza as a result of the war to be subjected to security screening before they can return to their homes, said the sources.

Hamas has previously stated it wants them to be allowed to return to their homes unconditionally. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced since the war began, according to the UN.

The US proposals include a “full and complete” six-week ceasefire that would see the release of several hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

During these 42 days, Israeli forces would also withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow the return of displaced people to their homes in the north.

Hamas, Israel and the mediators would also negotiate the terms of the second phase that could lead to the release of the remaining male hostages, both civilians and soldiers. Israel would free additional Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The third phase would see the return of any remaining hostages, including those killed, and the start of a years-long reconstruction project.

The Gaza war, which has to date killed more than 38,100 Palestinians, was triggered by a Hamas-led attack in October on southern Israel that killed 1,200. The militants also took about 240 hostages, of whom about 100 were freed during a truce in November.

The relentless Israeli campaign that followed has laid to waste most of Gaza’s built-up areas and created a humanitarian crisis in which many face hunger as the threat of famine looms over northern Gaza.

Hamas's softening of its position on the US proposals, according to special report by the Associated Press published on Monday that quoted officials in the Middle East and the US, was prompted by the level of devastation in Gaza.

However, Mr Netanyahu boasted on Sunday that military pressure – including Israel’s continuing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah – “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations”. He has repeatedly vowed that he will not stop the war until Hamas is destroyed.

AP said recent internal communications it has seen, including messages signed by several senior Hamas figures in Gaza, have urged the group’s exiled political leadership to accept the US proposals.

The messages described the heavy battlefield losses Hamas has suffered and the dire conditions in the war-ravaged territory, it said.

It was not known if this internal pressure was a factor in Hamas's flexibility, said the AP. But the messages indicated divisions within the group and a readiness among senior militants to reach a deal quickly, even if Hamas's top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, may be in no hurry to do so.

Hamas has repeatedly denied divisions within its top ranks but officials who have dealt with the group for years contend that its military wing, to which Mr Sinwar is close, has the final say on key decisions.