US keeping up appearances as ‘some sort of peacemaker’
I think US special adviser Amos Hochstein’s visit is just meant to show that Americans are in fact involved and interested in calming the situation, while Israel continues to pound Gaza and south Lebanon.
There could be some hints of an attempt at arrangements for the day after Gaza, in the sense of what will constitute a permanent ceasefire on the northern border with Lebanon and how that could be handled.
Most of the proposals so far insist Hezbollah must redeploy at least 6km [3.7 miles] from the border. That’s not exactly to its liking for the time being. The war continues and the United States continues to keep up the appearance of some sort of a peacemaker.
Clearly, Israel is not driving what’s next on the northern border – Hezbollah is. In the sense that Israel would have just liked that nothing happened on the north and that it could simply focus on Gaza and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and so on.
Israel will not negotiate ceasefire deal that departs from current outline: Report
Israel is not open to changing the outline of the UN-backed ceasefire proposal, which Hamas has requested several amendments to, a senior Israeli negotiator told Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth news.
“There will be no negotiations on an outline other than the one accepted by the UN Security Council,” the unnamed negotiator said.
The source went on to characterise Hamas’s response to the ceasefire proposal as “total refusal”, while issuing a warning that Israel’s war on Gaza would continue even after its Rafah operations.
Hamas has described its requested changes to the deal as “not significant” and confirmed its position is consistent with the foundational principles of the proposal.
Israel’s government has yet to publicly back the deal, with Netanyahu insisting the war on Gaza will continue until Hamas is defeated.
Two key US Congress Democrats approve major arms sale to Israel: Report
