Politics Report: Israel enters hostage talks with new proposal
According to a media report, Israel is entering the indirect hostage negotiations planned for Sunday in Rome with a modified proposal. The proposal had already been submitted to the American mediators in advance, wrote the well-connected Israeli journalist Barak Ravid in the portal "walla.co.il". He based this on three sources who are said to be privy to the proceedings.
27.07.2024, 18:29
SDA
The indirect talks between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, in which the USA, Qatar and Egypt are mediating, have been very sluggish for months. Since May, they have revolved around a multi-stage plan by US President Joe Biden, which ultimately envisages a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war. In addition, the hostages held by Hamas are to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Proposal to contain additional demands
According to Ravid, the updated proposal, which Israel intends to take to the next round of talks in Rome, should include additional demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently raised. These amount to Israel's military being able to occupy strategically important positions in the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period of time.
In this context, Netanyahu mentioned a corridor that divides the Gaza Strip down the middle and whose occupation would allow control of the movement of people and goods through the sealed-off coastal area, as well as the border area with Egypt in the south.
According to Ravid, high-ranking officials in the Israeli negotiating delegation and the security apparatus assume that Hamas will not accept these conditions. As a result, this would lead to a crisis in the negotiations. The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people killed by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7 last year.
