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Ahead of ceasefire talks, Hamas says needs guarantees
Netanyahu apparently discussed the mandate with the Israeli negotiating team as to what it is going to present to mediators in Doha on Thursday. Talks are expected to last two days.
Hamas has said it needs guarantees that they are going to be offered the same proposal that they responded to on July 2, which was based on the framework that US President Joe Biden outlined at the end of May.
They say that until they have those guarantees, they’re not willing to sit at the table directly so to speak with Israel while they “navigate the maze of negotiations”. Israel, they say, will add more conditions on the ceasefire deal at hand.
But we have to remember there are incredibly tough sticking points here: Hamas wanting to see a complete end to the war, and Netanyahu saying that even if there is a pause in the fighting, Israel will need a guarantee that the war will continue afterwards.
Hamas willing to meet mediators after Thursday’s talks
As we’ve reported, the next round of ceasefire talks is set to take place in Qatar tomorrow.
Hamas has told mediators it has made significant compromises but has yet to receive a serious response from the Israelis to its latest proposal from July 2, a source with knowledge of the talks told Al Jazeera.
Hamas has informed the mediators that it wants them to come back to the group with a serious response from Israel.
The group also said that it compromised and responded positively to the mediators’ certain requests but the Israelis have re-introduced conditions and killed Ismail Haniyeh, which indicates that they are not serious about reaching a deal.
Hamas has told the mediators that it is willing to meet with them after the Thursday meeting if there are developments or a serious response from Israel.
Ceasefire in Gaza not main focus of latest diplomatic efforts
As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads for the Middle East this week, analyst Daniel Levy believes the recent momentum towards diplomacy has more to do with preventing a “regional escalation” than achieving a ceasefire in Gaza.
Global concerns that Israel’s war will escalate into an all-out regional conflict multiplied after the assassinations last month of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Fuad Shukr, a top commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, in Beirut.
“The message being conveyed by allied governments of the US … to Hezbollah is don’t undermine the talks,” Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, told Al Jazeera. “What may come out of those is maybe offering those players a certain ladder, an ability to hold their fire for a period of time.”
Start point for ceasefire talks still not known
The US State Department had no specifics at all about tomorrow’s Doha talks.
Its spokesperson kept referring to the Qatari partner or the Israeli partner. The State Department itself is not coming out with any specific ideas about what the next 24 hours are going to bring.
We know that Blinken will not be traveling. He has been on the phone throughout the course of the morning, speaking to various parties. We do know that the CIA director will be there. But the specifics of what will be talked about – apart from a broad generic ceasefire – we simply do not know.
