Analyst: Israel, Hamas likely to end fighting without formal ceasefire deal

Former head of IDF military intelligence Amos Yadlin estimates that Israel and Hamas are unlikely to reach an official ceasefire deal since their respective demands are irreconcilable.

Instead, both sides will likely halt fire in a non-formal truce, he tells Channel 12.

Yadlin says Hamas is seeking to cast itself as the defender of Jerusalem and is demanding an end to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. It is seeking a commitment that its leaders won’t be attacked by Israel and safe passage between Gaza and the West Bank.

Institute for National Security Studies chairman Amos Yadlin, a former head of IDF Military Intelligence (Tomer Neuberg/ FLASH90)

Israel will not want to agree to any of these conditions, says Yadlin, who is the executive director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

Israel wants complete quiet, including the cessation of incendiary devices fired from Gaza; the disarming of Gaza, or at least that Hamas not rearm now, the return of the bodies of two IDF soldiers, and freedom for Israeli civilians held in the enclave, says Yadlin.