By Janet Ekstract NEW YORK- The stakes are mounting in the dealmaking process between the U.S., Qatar and Egypt with mediators from the three countries, pressuring Israel and Hamas to accept the truce deal that President Joe Biden outlined last Friday, in a televised speech from the White House. Despite mounting protests and pressure in Israel after four more hostages were found dead in Gaza, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has shown no signs of letting up in his determination to keep the war going in Gaza. The ’elephant in the room’ is that every day that goes by with no deal made, puts the hostages at an even greater risk of death. Meanwhile, G7 leaders at their recent summit where discussion on Gaza was front and center, put out a formal statement. The G7 Leaders’ Statement on Gaza reads: “We, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), fully endorse and will stand behind the comprehensive deal outlined by President Biden that would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in humanitarian assistance for distribution throughout Gaza, and an enduring end to the crisis, with Israel’s security interests and Gazan civilian safety assured. We reaffirm our support for a credible pathway towards peace leading to a two State solution. We call on Hamas to accept this deal, that Israel is ready to move forward with, and we urge countries with influence over Hamas to help ensure that it does so.”
Netanyahu’s issue with taking the deal are his right-wing, extremist coalition members who have threatened multiple times to dismantle his government if he makes a deal for a truce. In Biden’s speech on Friday, he acknowledged the predicament that Netanyahu faces but urged him to stay the course and take the deal, saying “This war must end.” Though Netanyahu has vowed to push ahead with the war until Hamas “is destroyed” – tens of thousands of Israelis continued their rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, urging him to take the deal while opposition leader Yair Lapid told Netanyahu he would support the government if a deal to pause the war is made. On Saturday, Netanyahu stated: “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.” Meanwhile, protesters are holding Netanyahu accountable for the most recent hostage deaths, saying if a deal had been struck sooner, they would have still been alive. It’s clear, that the longer Netanyahu continues to play the game of ‘cat and mouse’ with Hamas, that two sets of victims remain: the hostages and the Palestinian civilians.
On the upside, Hamas said it views the Israeli plan Biden referred to “positively,” while mediators from the U.S., Qatar and Egypt said Saturday that they “call on both Hamas and Israel to finalize the agreement embodying the principles outlined by President Joe Biden.” Meanwhile, Israel’s Lapid said the Israeli government “cannot ignore Biden’s important speech,” urging Netanyahu to accept the deal. As Lapid commented on X, formerly twitter: “I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net for a hostage deal.” For his part, Netanyahu took umbrage with Biden’s presentation of the deal because Netanyahu said originally in the deal – the transition from on stage to the next was “conditional” and allowed Israel to keep its war aims intact. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog told Netanyahu on Sunday “that I will give him and the government my full support for a deal which will see the release of the hostages.” As Herzog said at an address at Hebrew University in Jersualem: “It is our inherent obligation to bring them home within the framework of a deal that preserves the security interest of the State of Israel.”
At this point, after Lapid and Herzog vowed their support for Israel’s government despite the threats of a government shake-up from far-right extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir – Netanyahu has run out of excuses to block a ceasefire and hostage deal, especially after Hamas’s positive response. Both Smotrich and Gvir have openly stated they want to send Palestinians to other countries and are against a two-state solution because their bottom line is the non-existence of Palestine. Both ministers publicly stated they want Gaza to be solely populated by Israelis and Jewish settlers. As Gvir stated on X: “We demand the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages return,” while Smotrich said he is against the return of displaced Gazans in the north and the “wholesale release..” in a prisoner swap.
If there were a deal, the three-stage ceasefire-hostage deal would begin with a six-week phase where Israeli forces would withdraw from all populated areas of the Gaza Strip. There would be a “release of a number of hostages” in exchange for “hundreds of Palestinian prisoners” held in Israeli jails. The second phase would include Israel and the Palestinians negotiating a lasting ceasefire with the truce continuing as long as talks were ongoing. The third phase is the rebuilding of Gaza by the U.S., Arab countries and the international community. Currently and for months, the Gaza Strip is in a mass famine, according to the head of the World Food Program (WFP) Cindy McCain. Over 800,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah with others residing near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in Rafah. Up to 1.4 million Palestinians were sheltering in Rafah before Israel warned many to leave for a ‘safe zone’ that was then attacked by the Israeli military. Israel’s seizing of the Rafah border crossing has made getting humanitarian aid into Gaza, almost impossible. The question is when will Netanyahu realize that if he doesn’t take the current deal being offered, that he risks alienating Israel from its allies. But sadly, the entire Israeli government has been willing to risk the lives of every single hostage, to boost its own ego, namely that of its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Clearly, as the international negotiators urge Netanyahu to take the deal, something’s got to give. As Biden concluded in his speech last Friday: “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin.” The question is when? When, indeed.
