Israeli negotiators said to believe chance of hostage deal ‘close to zero’
The chances of a phased hostage-ceasefire agreement being achieved on the basis of Israel’s May proposal are “close to zero” and there is “very broad pessimism” among the Israeli negotiators, Channel 12 reported Sunday, citing unnamed sources in the Israeli security establishment.
The US, which had indicated it was planning to present a new bridging proposal in the next two or three days, is now regarded as unlikely to do so, it added.
The report cited immense frustration among Israel’s negotiators who, it said, had believed it was possible to at least reach an agreement between Israel and the mediators that would then be conveyed to Hamas.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Hebrew press conference last Monday, at which he insisted repeatedly on maintaining IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border — a stance that was not specified in the Netanyahu-approved May proposal — “buried” the chances of such an agreement. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar then hardened his positions, the report said.
The prospects of progress were further dented when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in an interview last night that Philadelphi was not his only “red line,” and that he also opposed an IDF withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor and the release of Palestinian security prisoners serving terms for murder. Essentially, said the report, the position set out by Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party that is a crucial element in Netanyahu’s coalition, “wiped out” Israel’s May proposal. [Continue reading…]