From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 16, 2024
Report: Israel to send delegation to Cairo on Sunday to close gaps before top mediators regroup to finalize deal
Channel 12 reports that Israel will send another delegation to Cairo on Sunday to try and close remaining gaps in the hostage talks before another high-level summit will be held in Doha toward the end of next week.
The two biggest obstacles remain the continued presence of Israeli troops along the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza and preventing the transfer of armed Palestinians to the northern Strip.
These were two of the key new demands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added last month, insisting that the IDF be allowed to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor and that a mechanism be created to prevent Hamas from reconstituting in northern Gaza.
As for the latter demand, the US has made clear that it will not accept the establishment of a new mechanism amid fears this would take weeks to implement.
On the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, there are solutions that have been crafted, which the mediators hope will be enough to convince Israel.
At the Rafah Crossing, in particular, the idea is to have a Palestinian force stationed there that is not Hamas, Channel 12 says. Netanyahu has long objected to the Palestinian Authority formally returning to the crossing or other parts of Gaza, but it’s unlikely that an alternative exists.
Where mediators are closer to reaching solutions after the Doha summit are on the number of living hostages who will be released in the first phase of the ceasefire; the names of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas would like to see released, the number of vetoes Israel will have over these names and the number who will be sent to exile outside of the West Bank and Gaza; and the mechanism for implementing the hostage-prisoner exchange.
As far as the US is concerned, the latest proposal being crafted by the mediators will be presented in the form of “take it or leave it,” Channel 12 says, adding that there will be no additional discussions.
Israel will have to decide whether it wants a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza or if it will instead face attacks from Iran and Hezbollah, which risk dragging the entire region into a much bigger war, the network says.
Qatar has informed Hamas of all the developments from the past two days of negotiations, but the terror group has yet to publicly say how it plans to proceed. Several officials in the group have issued statements to the press, expressing disapproval of the way the talks went in Doha, but it is still not clear what the official Hamas position is.
In the meantime, the Israeli security establishment believes that progress in the hostage talks puts off attacks from Iran and Hezbollah, but the IDF remains ready for such retaliatory strikes nonetheless, Channel 12 says.
