Hamas offers new ceasefire proposal

Jenna Moon
·2 min read
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Semafor Signals

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Insights from El País and The New York Times

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Hamas has submitted a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that includes the release of Israeli hostages for up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, agencies reported Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that Hamas is making unreasonable requests with its proposals so far. Also on Friday, a ship carrying 200 tonnes of food from Cyprus arrived off the coast of Gaza, though few details have emerged yet on how the supplies will be distributed.

SIGNALS

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Talks keep breaking down over mistrust

Source:  El País

Negotiations have repeatedly collapsed between Israel and Hamas, who have been unable to agree on the first phase of the ceasefire. Both sides are aware that a truce would not mean the end of the war, but Hamas has advocated for it to be the beginning of the end of hostilities, which Israel disagrees with. While the first phase of a hostage agreement would focus on releasing the young, women, and the sick, a second phase would see men released — something Hamas hopes Israel will trade for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, El País reported. “Hamas will be looking for maximum guarantees in exchange for the [hostages], because when it releases them it will have run out of ways to pressure Israel,” an expert in conflict resolution told the Spanish paper.

Divides between US and Israel grow

Source:  The New York Times

Netanyahu’s leadership in Israel is problematic: The prime minister sent forces into Gaza with no clear plan about how the enclave would be managed after the conflict, and Israel as a whole is becoming “radioactive,” The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote. “Israel has a prime minister who apparently would rather see Gaza devolve into Somalia, ruled by warlords,” than partner with organizations like the Palestinian Authority to establish a government for the Palestinian territories. The only thing “worse for Israel, not to mention Gazans, than a Gaza controlled by Hamas,” he argued, is “a Gaza where nobody is in charge.”