From the Liveblog of
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Hamas and Israel both said toughening positions on a deal, as US works on new proposal
Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, Hamas and Israel have both toughened their positions on other core elements of a potential hostage-ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports.
The TV report says the US is trying to find formulas to bridge those differences as it works on its so-called “final proposal” for a deal, which Channel 12 says will be conveyed to the two sides in the near future, and possibly as soon as this weekend.
Hamas, the report says, has raised the number of Palestinian security prisoners serving life terms for murder that it is demanding would be released in the earliest days of the first 42-day phase of a deal. Previously, Hamas and Israel had agreed that 150 life-term murderers would be released from Israel’s jails in return for the five female surveillance soldiers held hostage. Now, Hamas is demanding a higher number, which the TV report did not specify.
Israel, for its part, is pushing for a higher number of living hostages than previously agreed to be released in the deal’s first phase, in the so-called “humanitarian” category.
As regards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand for the IDF to remain deployed along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border during phase 1, the TV report says the US is planning to present a map showing IDF forces still deployed there, but in smaller numbers than previously set out.
The US proposal would also provide for Israel to withdraw its troops from the Rafah border crossing between phases 1 and 2 of the deal, it says.
The report says the Americans are increasingly less optimistic about the prospects of a deal, and that Israel is not optimistic at all.
Earlier today, Netanyahu told Fox News that “there is not a deal in the making, unfortunately.”
Last night, in an English-language press conference, he said “Hamas has rejected everything.” Apart from the dispute over the Philadelphi Corridor, he cited disagreements on the ratio of hostages to terrorists to be released, and Israel’s demand to veto the release of some terrorists and to exile others.
The TV report says the families of hostages with dual American-Israeli citizenship are expected to be invited to the White House for another meeting tomorrow.
This evening, meanwhile, Channel 12 reports Netanyahu is participating in a meeting with security chiefs about preparations for tackling the security situation in the north, where Hezbollah has maintained relentless rocket fire since last October and tens of thousands of Israelis are displaced from their homes.
