Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AFP/Pool)
- Israel
said any Gaza ceasefire deal that did not include the “destruction”
of Hamas’ military and governing abilities was a non-starter. - This
despite Biden earlier saying Israel had proposed a deal starting with a
six-week ceasefire while a “permanent” solution was negotiated. - The
US, Qatar and Egypt have urged Hamas and Israel to finalise a deal.
JERUSALEM
– Israel said on Saturday there would be no formal end to the Gaza war as long
as Hamas retains power, raising questions of timing and interpretation over a
truce offer advanced by US President Joe Biden and provisionally welcomed by
the Palestinian faction.
Biden
said on Friday that Israel had proposed a deal involving an initial six-week
ceasefire with a partial Israeli military withdrawal and the release of some
hostages, while “a permanent end to hostilities” is negotiated
through mediators.
READ | ‘Time for this war to end’: Biden says Israel offers new roadmap to Gaza peace
The
proposal, Biden said, also “creates a better ‘day after’ in Gaza without
Hamas in power”. He did not elaborate on how that might be achieved. The
Iranian-backed Islamist group has given no indication it might step aside or
disarm voluntarily.
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday any notion that Israel
would agree a permanent ceasefire before “the destruction of Hamas’
military and governing capabilities” was “a non-starter”.
Hamas
said on Friday it was ready to engage “positively and in a constructive
manner”. But senior official Mahmoud Mardawi told Qatari television that
it had not yet received details of the proposal.
“No
agreement can be reached before the demand for the withdrawal of the occupation
army and a ceasefire is met,” he said. Hamas remains committed to Israel’s
destruction.
Potential US-Israel rift
Later
on Saturday, the United States, Qatar and Egypt urged Hamas and Israel to
finalise an agreement “embodying the principles” for an end to the
Gaza war outlined by Biden.
Talks
mediated by Egypt and Qatar with US backing have stumbled for months over a
clash in core positions.
Israel
has been willing only to suspend the war in exchange for hostages, saying it
would resume the campaign to eliminate the Hamas threat. Hamas wants any deal
to entail concrete Israeli moves to end the war, like a full troop withdrawal.
A
senior Biden administration official, asked about a potential rift in the US
and Israeli viewpoints on the future of Hamas, suggested this may be open to
interpretation and would come down to future Egyptian and Qatari sway over the
movement.
READ | ‘There is so clearly a right and wrong’: US official resigns in protest over Gaza report
“I
have no doubt that the deal will be characterised by Israel and be
characterised by Hamas,” the official told reporters.
“And
I think the arrangements and some of the day-after planning, you know, helps
ensure that — that Hamas’s military capacity to regenerate in a way that can
threaten Israel would be very much foreclosed under this arrangement and, I
think the president said in his speech, ensuring that Hamas cannot rearm.”
Months of war
The
war began on 7 October when Hamas-led Palestinian fighters rampaged into
southern Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1 200 people, mostly civilians,
and seizing more than 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s
ground and air campaign in Gaza has left the territory in ruins, led to
widespread starvation, and killed more than 36 000 people, according to
Palestinian health authorities, who say most of the dead are civilians. More
than 290 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Gaza invasion.
An
Israeli public once solidly behind the war is showing signs of fatigue amid
worry for the fate of the hostages.
Benny
Gantz, a centrist ex-general who joined Netanyahu in an emergency coalition,
has threatened to bolt next week if the prime minister does not form a Gaza
day-after plan with him.
But
in a possible sign that that could be deferred, Gantz on Saturday voiced
appreciation for Biden and called for the Israeli war cabinet to be convened
“to decide the next steps”.
On
Wednesday, Netanyahu’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said he
expected the war to continue for the rest of 2024, at least.
White House invitation
In
the United States, Israel’s main ally, the extent of civilian suffering in Gaza
has put pressure on Biden, who hopes to win a second presidential term in the
November election.
In
his speech on Friday, Biden called on Israel’s leadership to resist pressure
from those in the country who wanted the war to go on “indefinitely”.
Netanyahu
could have a chance to rebut in Washington soon. His office said he had
accepted an invitation to address both houses of Congress by top lawmakers – which
would make him the first foreign leader to make such an appearance four times.
READ | ‘Thumbing its nose to the international community’: Israel ignores ‘red lines’ in Rafah strikes
Netanyahu
said he felt honoured and would use the opportunity to tell “the
representatives of the American people and the entire world the truth about our
righteous war against those who seek our destruction”.
Opposition
leader Yair Lapid urged Netanyahu to agree a hostages and ceasefire deal,
saying his party would support it even if ultranationalist factions in the
governing religious-rightist coalition rebelled. Lapid’s pledge meant a deal
would likely pass in parliament.
“The
government of Israel cannot ignore President Biden’s consequential speech.
There is a deal on the table and it should be made,” Lapid said on social
media.
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