Amid all the quarreling and distrust in the negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage-release deal, Israel and Hamas have actually settled on the vast majority of the terms, according to a senior U.S. official.
“Basically 90% of this deal has been agreed, and it has been agreed on terms that even Hamas had on their own proposal,” the official told reporters Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The current proposal seeking to break a stalemate features three elements: cease-fire arrangements, including the redeployment of some Israeli military resources; a prisoner and hostage exchange; and increased humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza that, in addition to food and fuel trucks, would include addressing immediate infrastructure needs and rehabilitating hospitals and bakeries.
That would all be part of the initial six-week truce, which would stop the war and continue as long as the parties kept talking. Mediators would then try to guide the process to phase two, which is a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
An exchange of hostages for an estimated 800 Palestinians prisoners, some with life sentences, was complicating talks as of Wednesday. The U.S. official said the prisoner release was a central component of the deal and was colored by the execution of the six hostages in a Rafah tunnel last week, reducing the number of captives on the exchange list. All women hostages, including soldiers, all men over 50 and all ill and wounded hostages would be freed in the first phase.
That stage would also see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from densely populated areas. But a dispute has emerged over whether the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza constitutes a densely populated area. The official said Israel produced a proposal to significantly reduce troops along the corridor and that the issue is still under discussion.
Developments:
∎ Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning Israel’s claims that withdrawing from the Egypt-Gaza border would allow Hamas to re-arm as “absurd attempts to justify the continuous Israeli violations of international laws and norms.”
∎ Globally known Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was among those apprehended by Danish police Wednesday at Copenhagen University during a protest against the war in Gaza, Students Against the Occupation said.
Netanyahu claims Hamas ‘wiped the floor’ with deal
Under intense international pressure to reach a deal for a cease-fire and release of hostages, and amid accusations he’s sabotaging negotiations for political reasons, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the claims at a news conference Wednesday and instead blamed Hamas.
Once again using maps to illustrate his arguments, Netanyahu said it was essential Israel maintain control of the narrow strip of land between southern Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadephi Corridor, which has become a major sticking point in a truce deal. He maintained that without a military presence there, Hamas could use the passageway to take hostages to other countries or smuggle weapons into Gaza.
“Gaza cannot have a future if Gaza remains porous and you can enable the rearmament of Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor,” he said. “If you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to hold on to the Philadelphi Corridor.”
Opposition leader Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who joined Netanyahu in a War Cabinet before it was disbanded in June, are among those who have rejected the notion that holding on to the corridor is critical to getting the hostages freed.
Speaking in English to the foreign media, Netanyahu denied he was using the Philadelphi argument as a pretext to avoid reaching an agreement, which would alienate the far-right flank that keeps his governing coalition in place. Israel did not enter the corridor until seven months into the war, which Netanyahu said was because there were other key military targets.
And he refuted the premise of a journalist who asked if Israeli control of the Philadelphi strip was ever mentioned in a U.S.-backed proposal Israel presented May 27 and Hamas mostly accepted, according to multiple reports. The Israeli news site Ynet reported this week that two months later Netanyahu added a number of alterations that scuttled the agreement.
“Hamas didn’t accept the deal,” Netanyahu said of negotiations that continued into August. “On the May 27 proposal, they had 29 changes and corrections. Twenty-nine, which effectively eviscerated them from any meaning. It was a rejection. In fact, a detailed rejection of the deal. … Hamas basically wiped the floor with it.”
