Hamas proposal envisions war’s end
Blinken: Much to be done to close gap with Israel
Hamas has proposed a 135-day cease-fire plan that would include the release of remaining militant-held hostages, withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands and left the enclave in ruins.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog to discuss the plan Wednesday, exactly four months after a Hamas-led assault on Israeli border communities ignited the conflict. Blinken acknowledged that “a lot of work” must be done to close the gap between the demands of each side.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israeli forces will oversee security in Gaza, even after the war. Israel’s Channel 13 quoted a senior Israeli official it did not name as saying the Hamas proposal is unacceptable and a debate within the government involves whether to reject the plan outright or begin negotiations.
The proposal, published in Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, would not require a permanent cease-fire at the outset of the deal but requires it before the last batch of hostages would be released. Female hostages, male hostages younger than 19, and elderly and sick hostages would be released during the first 45-day phase along with Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.
The proposed first phase would require a pause in fighting with Israel repositioning its military forces away from high-population areas in Gaza. In addition to the release of some hostages, Israel would release 1,500 Palestinians, including 500 selected by Hamas who may be serving life sentences for terror-related activities.
The flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave would be drastically increased, and reconstruction of hospitals, homes and other crucial buildings would begin during the first phase. Gazans ordered out of their homes by Israeli forces ahead of military assaults would be allowed to return. Talks aimed at a permanent end to the war also would begin.
Some details of the second phase of the Hamas plan would be negotiated during the first phase. But the second phase would require a completion of talks resulting in an end of the war and the release of the rest of the militantheld hostages in exchange for a “certain number” of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. That likely would mean the release of thousands of Palestinians. Israel would remove all its troops from Gaza, and reconstruction of the enclave would be stepped up.
In the third stage, the two sides would exchange the bodies of those killed in the war; humanitarian aid into Gaza would continue, along with reconstruction.
The Hamas plan comes in response to the latest round of talks brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt. The militant group issued a statement thanking Egypt, Qatar and “all countries that seek to stop the brutal aggression” against Palestinians.
Hamas wants the deal guaranteed by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Russia and the United Nations − but not the U.S.
Avi Melamed, former Israeli intelligence official and author of “Inside the Middle East: Entering a New Era,” said the proposal is “unsignable” for Israel but does indicate that Hamas is willing to negotiate. The goal of the offer, he said in an email to USA TODAY, is to “deepen the crisis in Israeli public opinion on hostage negotiations” and to halt the Israeli military’s momentum in Gaza. Melamed said Hamas leaders still plan to regain the level of control they had in Gaza before the war began, despite Netanyahu’s pledge to crush them.
Israel and the U.S. will continue “fighting the war as if there are no negotiations, and negotiating as if there is no war, which has been a hallmark of the Israeli response to Oct. 7,” Melamed wrote.
War reaches 4-month mark
The war began Oct. 7, when Hamasled militants crashed across the border on a killing spree that left 1,200 people dead in Israeli border communities. Hours later the militants fled back to Gaza with more than 240 hostages, over 100 of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. More than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s devastating military effort to free the hostages and remove Hamas from power. Israel announced the deaths of two more of its soldiers in Gaza, raising the total of slain troops in the ground offensive to 227.
There is little talk of grand diplomatic bargains in Gaza, where Palestinians yearn for an end to fighting that has upended every aspect of their lives.
“We pray to God that it stops,” said Ghazi Abu Issa, who fled his home and sought shelter in the central town of Deir al-Balah. “There is no water, electricity, food or bathrooms.” Those living in tents have been drenched by winter rains and flooding. “We have been humiliated,” he said.
Hamas has continued to put up stiff resistance across the territory, and its police force has returned to the streets in places where Israeli troops have pulled back.
Saudi Arabia sets conditions for normalizing Israel ties
Saudi Arabia says it won’t normalize ties with Israel without recognition of an independent Palestinian state and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
The Foreign Ministry outlined its “firm position” in a statement released Wednesday, two days after Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“The Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the U.S. administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.
The Biden administration has been pushing for an agreement in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel in return for U.S. defense guarantees, assistance in setting up a civilian nuclear program and major progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Contributing: The Associated Press