US urges both sides to ‘compromise’ over ceasefire
The United States has urged both Israel and Hamas to compromise during talks in Doha on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“Both sides need to show compromise. Both sides need to show some leadership,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told broadcaster CNN.
The talks in the Qatari capital were “about the implementing details of the deal itself, the smaller gaps that we absolutely believe can be narrowed in terms of how the deal is executed” and not about the deal itself, Kirby said.
“Sometimes, you know, when you get to the end of a negotiation and you’re talking about those kinds of details, that’s when it gets the hardest and the most gritty,” he said, expressing the hope that there would be progress over the coming hours and days.
Kirby can keep claiming it's just a few details, however Netanyahu is not interested in a permanent ceasefire, Hamas is not interested in a temporary pause. That's not a minor detail...
The US just keeps buying Israel more time with these pretend negotiations.
Hamas says it will not negotiate new conditions for a ceasefire
As a new round of negotiations began, Hamas says it will not negotiate any new conditions for a ceasefire or the release of captives. “We do not see the need for a new agreement,” Osama Hamdan, a high-ranking Hamas official, told the German news agency dpa.
“More negotiations are no longer required, but rather an American decision to pressure Israel to accept” the proposal presented by US President Joe Biden a few months ago, he added.
A Hamas source earlier said that the group has made clear to mediators that it “will not accept more manoeuvring” by Israel, amid reports that Netanyahu’s government is attempting to secure the release of 33 captives in an initial phase.
Hamdan blamed the US for failing to pressure Israel to agree to a deal.
“Despite efforts by Qatar and Egypt, the US administration, while it made commitments and pledges, did not succeed – or perhaps did not want to – in pressuring the occupation [Israel] to abide by the initiatives it presented,” he said.
He also said Israel “has always obstructed the negotiation process” by sending delegations unauthorised to negotiate, setting new conditions, and refusing to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor – a narrow stretch on the Gaza-Egypt border – or to withdraw from the Rafah crossing.
Too many ‘sticking points’ for Netanyahu amid ongoing truce talks
What we know is that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu still has an incredibly hardened stance.
Previously, Israeli media had reported that he did soften it quite a bit in order to show that he was serious about this round of talks in Doha. But there are still incredibly difficult red lines and sticking points that Netanyahu says are non-negotiable.
And in fact, Israeli media has published a letter that was submitted to Netanyahu by the Israeli military representative on the negotiating team, detailing to the prime minister the list of conditions that Israeli captives in Gaza are currently under, their deteriorating conditions, and that every day that goes by is a threat to their lives.
In this letter, the military representative said … there should be serious considerations in terms of flexibility when it comes to these negotiations that the Israelis are conducting with mediators in Doha.
Some say that they are cautiously optimistic about Doha talks, but when it comes to those who are close to Netanyahu, Israeli media is saying that he is not budging.
‘For once, be brave,’ Gantz tells Netanyahu
Former Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz mocked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for citing his coalition government’s potential collapse as a reason for delaying a ceasefire, urging him to “be brave” and accept an agreement to end the offensive, which would help bring back Israeli captives from Gaza.
“At first, you hesitated on manoeuvring [in southern Gaza], then you hesitated on moving the effort to the north, and for months you hesitated to move forward with a hostage outline out of fear for the fate of the coalition,” Gantz, leader of the opposition National Unity alliance, addressed Netanyahu in a statement quoted by The Times of Israel.
“It is time for you to stop tending to the fate of the government, and only tend to the fate of the country,” Gantz advised him, underscoring his point: “For once, be brave.”
In response, Netanyahu’s Likud Party issued a statement claiming that “the protocols will prove that Gantz is the one who opposed decisions that were critical for the security of Israel, including decisions regarding dramatic military actions”.
The party claimed that the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders since Gantz’s departure are more than anything else a “testimony to the change of reality”. “Unfortunately, Gantz chose to leave the government during the war,” the party said, referring to Gantz’s resignation from the government in June of this year.
