DOHA/BEIRUT: Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to ten sources familiar with the round of US-mediated talks that concluded last week.
The 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 US President Joe Biden in May.
All the sources said Hamas was especially concerned about the latest demand to keep troops deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, an east-west strip Israel cleared 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 not to be named to speak freely about sensitive matters.
Israel’s current grip on the Philadelphi Corridor gives it control of Gaza’s frontier with Egypt, the only 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.
The media office for the Palestinian militant group did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office did not respond to questions about the talks.
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 its 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.
US 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 US proposal aimed at narrowing differences between Israel 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 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 US-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.
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