The Times of Israel stated the obvious with the lack of a ceasefire in Gaza, that U.S. President Biden is the problem for not laying down the law to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They cited two Arab officials from mediating countries, who said that a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas won’t be possible unless Biden exerts more pressure on Netanyahu. TOI's report yesterday preceded Hamas’ statement last night that the mediators (the U.S., Egypt and Qatar) had to reject Netanyahu’s stalling tactics and negotiate on the basis of the July 2 Biden proposal.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, first charged that Netanyahu is the main obstacle to an agreement at this stage of the talks. Over a month ago, Hamas gave in to Israel and no longer insisted on a guaranteed peace, but Netanyahu responded by ordering his negotiators to issue new demands—that the IDF control the Egypt-Gaza border, that Israel controls who accesses northern Gaza, and that Israel gets more vetoes over which prisoners, in an exchange, Hamas calls for, in an exchange. TOI writes that, while Netanyahu insists that he hasn’t moved from the May 27 ceasefire proposal that he had authorized, their examination of the text of that offer “indicates otherwise.”
One of the Arab officials stated that Washington is the only party with enough leverage over Israel to sway Netanyahu, but that it has flinched. The official suggested that the U.S. could exert the most minimal pressure simply by blaming Netanyahu publicly for the lack of an agreement. “Absent real U.S. pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu, we’ll remain stuck.”
