Netanyahu rejects Hamas ceasefire proposal and Blinken makes things worse

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a long one-on-one meeting with Netanyahu after Hamas sent a counterproposal. Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ ceasefire proposal insisting on total victory and Blinken’s visit made things worse, according to mourners in Gaza “Every visit from Blinken, instead of calming things down, it just makes things worse, we get more strikes, we get more bombing,” said one mourner

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday total victory in Gaza was within reach, rejecting the latest offer from Hamas for a ceasefire to ensure the return of hostages still held in the besieged enclave.

Netanyahu renewed a pledge to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement, saying there was no alternative for Israel but to bring about the collapse of Hamas.

“The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas,” he told a press conference, insisting that total victory against Hamas was the only solution to the Gaza war.

“Only total victory will allow us to restore security in Israel, both in the north and in the south.”

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, described Netanyahu’s remarks as “political bravado” that showed the Israeli leader’s intention to continue conflict in the region.

Another Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said a Hamas delegation led by senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya would travel on Thursday to Cairo to pursue ceasefire talks with mediators Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas had proposed a Gaza ceasefire of four-and-a-half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.

The Hamas offer, the contents of which were first reported by Reuters, was a response to an earlier proposal drawn up by U.S. and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to Hamas last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the offer with Netanyahu after arriving in Israel following talks with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt. Blinken later met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Israel began its military offensive after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,139 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 27,585 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, with thousands more feared buried under rubble. There has been only one truce so far, lasting just a week at the end of November.

Three Phase Truce

Israel had previously said it would not pull its troops out of Gaza or end the war until Hamas was wiped out.

But sources close to the negotiations described Hamas as taking a new approach to its longstanding demand to end the war, proposing this as an issue to be resolved in future talks rather than a condition for the truce.

According to the offer document seen by Reuters and confirmed by sources, during the first 45-day phase all Israeli women hostages, males under 19 and the old and sick would be freed, in exchange for Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. Israel would withdraw troops from Gaza’s populated areas.

Implementation of the second phase would not begin until the sides conclude “indirect talks over the requirements needed to end the mutual military operations and return to complete calm”.

The second phase would include the release of remaining male hostages and full Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza. The remains of the dead would be exchanged during the third phase.

Blinken visit makes things worse

Washington has cast the hostage and truce deal as part of plans for a wider resolution of the Middle East conflict, ultimately leading to reconciliation between Israel and Arab neighbors and the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian state, which Saudi Arabia says is a requirement for any deal to normalize relations with Israel.

The diplomacy comes as Israel is trying to capture the main city in Gaza’s south, Khan Younis. Last week, Israel said it plans to storm Rafah, a move U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday would “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences.”

The Israeli military said it had killed dozens of militants in fighting over the past 24 hours. It has made similar claims throughout the fighting in Khan Younis, which could not be independently verified.

In Rafah, on Gaza’s southern edge where half of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are penned against the border with Egypt, the bodies of 10 people killed by Israeli strikes overnight were laid out in a hospital morgue. At least two of the shrouded bundles were the size of small children. Relatives wept beside the dead.

Palestinian health officials say an Israeli air strike killed another three people in a house in Rafah on Wednesday. The officials added that a senior Palestinian police officer and Hamas member, Majdi Abdel-Al, was killed in an Israeli air strike on a car that was tasked to secure aid trucks in Rafah.

“Every visit from Blinken, instead of calming things down, it just makes things worse, we get more strikes, we get more bombing,” said mourner Mohammad Abundi.

Israel’s success in Gaza ‘very limited

The former commander of US Central Command, General Frank McKenzie, has described Israel‘s success to date in its military objectives in the besieged Gaza Strip as “very limited”. 

“I think we do need to have an understanding of what we want as an end state. ” He stressed during a FACE THE NATION interview .

“They set themselves a goal of removing the political echelon and the military leadership echelon of Hamas when they went in. They have not been successful to date at doing either,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. 

“You have to have a theory for what it’s going to look like when it’s over,” McKenzie said. “You need a vision of an end state when you begin a military campaign because everything you do then subtracts or adds to your ability to get to that point.”

He stated that Israel taking full control of Gaza was “the least desirable of all outcomes,” adding that Arab states would be needed to assist efforts in post-war Gaza.

Netanyahu under pressure to deliver

Photo Thousands of people take part in a protest rally against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel on 03 February 2023. The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Netanyahu, whom they accuse of mismanagement and blamed him for the Oct. 7 attack that caught Israel by surprise with deadly consequences.EFE/EPA/ABIR SULTAN

 Thousands of people gathered Saturday night in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beer Sheva, among others, to demand the end of Netanyahu’s mandate and the return of the 136 hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip after 120 days of war.

In Tel Aviv, in Hostages Square, relatives of those still held in Gaza and demonstrators called for the dissolution of the government, general elections and the immediate return of the hostages held in Gaza.

The rally was held under the banner of “120 days underground,” a reference to the days since the Oct. 7 attack and the Hamas tunnels in the Palestinian enclave where the prisoners are believed to still be held. 

The Oct. 7 assault by the armed wing of Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,139 people – mostly civilians – and the abduction of 240 others, according to the latest figures released by Israeli authorities.

Of the 136 people estimated to be still in the hands of Hamas after the deadly assault, at least 27 are suspected to have been killed by IDF , as a result of Israeli fire during the massive offensive on the Strip. 

Both in Tel Aviv and in simultaneous protests in other cities, demonstrators also demanded the resignation of Netanyahu, whom they accuse of mismanagement and blamed for the Oct. 7 attack that caught Israel by surprise with deadly consequences.

In the southern city of Beer Sheva, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Gaza, around 400 demonstrators called for “early elections” and a change of government, the Israeli publication Haaretz reported.

“We deserve a leadership with broad and united support that will give hope and begin the healing process that this people and this country so desperately need,” demanded Moshe Radman Abutbul, one of the most prominent leaders at the forefront of protests against judicial reform in recent months.

Reuters/ News Agencies