Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s acceptance of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demands has effectively derailed any chances of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu’s conditions, including the continued Israel Defense Forces (IDF) presence in key Gaza corridors, were non-starters for Hamas. Egypt, skeptical of any ceasefire, warned that Hamas won’t accept the proposal, which offers only promises and no guarantees for Israeli withdrawal. As a result, Blinken’s proposal widened the gap instead of bridging it.
“Israel will insist on achieving all of its war goals, as defined by the cabinet—including the goal that Gaza will never again present a security threat to Israel,” a statement issued by Netanyahu’s office yesterday in response to news claiming that he had agreed on a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. “That requires closing the southern border,” it concludes, referring to the border between Egypt and Gaza.
Maybe this is why Egypt, one of the mediators, is reported to be skeptical that there will even be a ceasefire deal. Unnamed Egyptian officials told AP that Hamas won’t agree to the bridging proposal for a number of reasons—ones in addition to the long-held wariness over whether a deal would truly remove Israeli forces from Gaza and end the war.
“The Americans are offering promises, not guarantees,” one official said. “Hamas won’t accept this, because it virtually means Hamas will release the civilian hostages in return for a six-week pause of fighting with no guarantees for a negotiated permanent ceasefire.”
He also said the proposal doesn’t clearly say Israel will withdraw its forces from the two corridors in Gaza. Israel offers to downsize its forces in the Philadelphi Corridor, with “promises” to withdraw from the area, he said. “This is not acceptable for us and of course for Hamas,” the Egyptian official said.
A report in the Times of Israel cited an Arab official expressing his bewilderment at Blinken’s repeated public insistence in recent days that Netanyahu backed the U.S. bridging proposal, arguing that this inaccurately framed Hamas as the lone obstructionist party. The Arab official pointed to comments that the Israeli premier has continued making about the need for a permanent Israeli military presence in the Rafah Corridor to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.
In short, Blinken’s “bridging proposal” in effect made the gaps unbridgeable.
