A senior Israeli official said on Saturday that negotiations over a ceasefire deal with Hamas have reached a dead end, with Israel unwilling to support a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.
The Israeli official made further comments blaming Hamas for the impasses, echoing the language of Israeli and US officials that “the ball is Hamas’s court” and that stopping the war is in their hands.
Despite this rhetoric, Israel has not accepted the ceasefire proposal announced by Biden in May, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating clearly that Israel does not support a permanent ceasefire.
Israel’s demand appears to be for Hamas to release all the hostages right now in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, while Biden’s proposal involved a phased release of hostages in exchange resulting in temporary ceasefires that would ultimately lead to a permanent truce.
Since Biden announced his peace proposal, Israel’s violence in Gaza has increased, with Tel Aviv carrying out several massacres, including two on Saturday that killed at least 42 Palestinians after Israel struck two residential areas of Gaza City.
Hamas is not demanding the destruction of the Israel state in these negotiations, no. They don’t have the power to do that whether it’s what they want or not.
You don’t have to be on the side of Hamas to understand that they’re not the ones holding up a resolution to the genocide in Gaza. They’ve been at the table for all these negotiations and the only demand they have for release of the hostages is withdrawl from Gaza and a permanent cease fire. Israel’s refusal to accept that means they have no intention of stopping the genocide or stopping their pursuit of the total destruction of Hamas after a temporary ceasefire.
Yes, it’s true that Netanyahu is avoiding a resolution to the genocide in order to stay in power, he’s doing that by making the only terms he will accept in the negotiation to include further annhiliation of the other negotiating party. Which is obviously impossible to accept, thats not a negotiation, Hamas are not going to agree to just off themselves or w/e.