Ethan Bronner | Bloomberg News (TNS)
Israel says discussions to stop fighting between them and Hamas have stopped again, with major differences between the two sides on hostages, prisoners, and the future of Gaza.
A group of Israeli negotiators came back late Tuesday from two days of talks in Cairo and reported that Hamas wants the war to end immediately and for Israel to completely leave Gaza, according to officials who spoke anonymously because the talks are private.
The Iran-backed group also wants people in Gaza to go back to the northern part of the territory after being told by the Israeli military to move south at the beginning of the conflict, officials said. Another issue, they said, is Hamas’s demand for all Palestinians to be freed from Israeli jails.
This shows a hardening of Hamas’s position compared to earlier talks, according to the Israeli officials, and are demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government won’t agree to.
Israel has suggested a 42-day truce during which several dozen hostages would be exchanged for several hundred prisoners. Many northern Gazans could also go back home after being checked by Israeli forces for weapons and ties to Hamas.
Officials said Hamas thinks its position is stronger because of increasing international pressure on Israel during the war. This was shown by the U.S. deciding not to block a United Nations Security Council resolution last month calling for an immediate cease-fire. President Joe Biden, who plans to talk to Netanyahu on Thursday, also said he was “outraged” by an Israeli attack on Monday that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including a US national.
Hamas wants to stay in power in Gaza even after the fighting stops, officials said, while Israel says the war will go on until the group is wiped out. Hamas entered southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping around 250.
More than 32,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel started its air and ground assault, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The U.S. and European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
The discussions between Israel and Hamas are overseen by Qatar, the U.S., and Egypt.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Wednesday that the talks were stuck on the return of displaced people to their homes in Gaza.
Israel was concerned about Gazans going back to the north because of the risk of Hamas rocket fire returning from there into Israel. However, the officials said Israel has changed its position and is offering to allow thousands, even tens of thousands, of civilians to return.
The officials said Israel still wants to send forces into the southern Gaza city of Rafah to eliminate the four remaining Hamas groups there. Israel thinks they have about 8,000 fighters in total.
The U.S. and others are worried about the plan, saying there’s no way for the more than one million civilians in Rafah to leave quickly, and nowhere safe for them to go.
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