Disagreements over Israel's future
military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are
obstructing a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to ten sources familiar
with the round of U.S.-mediated talks that concluded last week.
The sources, who include two Hamas
officials and three Western diplomats, told Reuters the disagreements stemmed
from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted a version of a ceasefire
proposal unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden in May.
All the sources said Hamas was
especially concerned about the latest demand to keep troops deployed along the
Netzarim Corridor, an east-west strip Israel cleared during the current war
that prevents Palestinians' free movement between north and south Gaza, as well
as in a narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt known as the Philadelphi
Corridor.
The sources asked not to be named to
speak freely about sensitive matters.
Israel's current grip on the
Philadelphi Corridor gives it control of Gaza's frontier with Egypt, the
enclave's only crossing that does not border Israel.
Hamas sees Israel as having changed
its conditions and parameters "last-minute," and worries any
concessions it makes would be met by more demands, one of the sources, who is
close to the talks, told Reuters.
The media office for the Palestinian
militant group did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu's office did not respond to questions about the talks.
In a press statement on Sunday, Hamas
said the proposal arising from last week's talks was too close to Netanyahu's
recent positions setting new conditions. It urged the mediators to stick to the
implementation of a July version of
the framework agreement, rather than starting new negotiations.
In a statement prior to the talks
last week, Netanyahu's office denied making new demands, saying its position
built on the previous proposal.
In the statement, the office said
Israel's May proposal stated that only unarmed civilians would be allowed to
return to the northern part of Gaza, crossing the Netzarim Corridor.
The office said Israel's new proposal,
first presented at a meeting of mediators in Rome on July 27, was that an
agreed-upon mechanism should be established to assure this, implying but not
specifically mentioning an Israeli military presence at Netzarim to prevent the
movement of Hamas fighters.
According to a second source close
to the talks, Israel proposed that an agreement for the return of
non-combatants to the north half of Gaza would be agreed upon "at a later
date".
That was seen by some of the
mediators and Hamas as Israel backtracking on a previous commitment to withdraw
from the Netzarim corridor and allow free movement inside Gaza, the source
said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken concluded a whirlwind trip to the region on Tuesday, seeking a
breakthrough. After meeting Netanyahu, Blinken said Israel had accepted a new
U.S. proposal aimed at narrowing differences between Israel and Hamas' latest
positions. He urged Hamas to do the same.
"Once that happens we also have
to complete the detailed implementation agreements that go along with putting
the ceasefire into effect," he said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The sides have not released what
Blinken called a bridging proposal, and Reuters has not seen a copy.
One Western diplomat, describing
Israel's latest demands in the U.S.-led talks, said it appeared the United
States had accepted changes proposed by Netanyahu, including on a continued
Israeli military deployment in the two corridors.
One U.S. official disputed that
suggestion, saying the negotiations on the "implementation" would aim
to hash out disagreements over the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, the
number of Palestinian prisoners and who to release among other topics.
Blinken also pushed back on any
suggestion of Israeli troops occupying Gaza on a long term basis, saying at the
press conference that the schedule and location of Israeli military withdrawals
were very clear in the agreement.
FRESH TALKS
The next round of talks is expected
in Cairo in the coming days, based around the U.S. bridging proposal.
The lead U.S. negotiator, CIA
director Bill Burns, his Israeli counterpart, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari
Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt's lead
negotiator are expected to attend, the source close to the talks said. Qatar's Sheikh
Mohammed is expected to visit Tehran before heading to Cairo, the source said.
An Iranian source said Sheikh Mohammed was due to visit on Monday.
Iran's foreign ministry did not
respond to questions. The CIA declined to comment in line with its policy of
not disclosing Burns' travel.
Two of the Hamas officials said the
U.S. proposal contained some of the Israeli changes they reject, including
allowing "Israel's continued military presence" along the crossings
and releasing some Palestinian prisoners into exile, rather than to Gaza or the
West Bank, in any swap for hostages.
However, a senior U.S.
administration official said there was nothing in the bridging proposal that
changed previously agreed commitments on the Netzarim Corridor. The official
said any temporary arrangements on the Philadelphi Corridor must be consistent
with Israel’s May 27 text and the outline put forth by Biden, as endorsed by
the U.N. Security Council.
The proposal includes "massive
and immediate benefits" for the people of Gaza and incorporates a number
of Hamas' earlier demands, the official said.
Two of the sources, security
officials in Egypt, said Israel and Hamas appeared willing to resolve
differences in all areas other than that of the Israeli withdrawal.
Israel's war objectives include
"securing the southern border," Netanyahu's office said in a
statement on Thursday, referring to the Philadelphi Corridor.
In response to Reuters questions on
differences over the latest ceasefire proposal, Egypt's state information
service pointed to recent official statements emphasising a continuing push to
reach a deal at talks in Cairo and Doha.
Qatar's international media office
did not comment, but pointed to a statement issued late Tuesday after the
Qatari prime minister spoke to Blinken, which urged efforts to secure a
ceasefire in Gaza. In response to questions from Reuters the U.S. State
Department referred to Blinken's public statements.
PHILADELPHI CORRIDOR
Control over the Philadelphi
Corridor frontier area between Gaza and Egypt, along with the Rafah border
crossing, is particularly sensitive for Cairo.
Egypt is prepared to take more
security measures in the Philadelphi corridor but rejects the presence of
Israeli troops there, the Egyptian security sources said.
Israel seized control of the
strategic corridor in May, saying it was used by Hamas to smuggle weapons and
banned material into its tunnels to Gaza.
The Israeli advance resulted in the
closure of the Rafah crossing, sharply reducing the amount of humanitarian aid
entering Gaza, halting most medical evacuations, and potentially depriving
Egypt of its role brokering access at the only border crossing into Gaza that
had not been directly controlled by Israel.
Egypt says that tunnels used for
smuggling into Gaza have been closed or destroyed, that a Palestinian presence
at Rafah should be restored, and that the Philadelphi corridor buffer zone is
guaranteed by the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
An Israeli troop presence along the
corridors, the Hamas sources said, would amount to a continued Israeli
occupation that would stop the free movement of civilians.
PRISONERS AND PEACE
The two Hamas officials told Reuters
the U.S. bridging plan "does not include a permanent ceasefire".
In the May proposal, Biden said a temporary
ceasefire would become a permanent cessation of hostilities, "as long as
Hamas lives up to its commitments."
The Hamas officials said Israel had
also imposed a veto on the release of around 100 Palestinian prisoners whose
names Hamas proposed, some elderly and with more than 20 years remaining on
their sentences.
The issue of Palestinian prisoners
to be released as part of a swap deal for hostages Hamas has held in Gaza since
Oct. 7 had previously been seen as less difficult.
A main sticking point at present is
an Israeli position that many of the prisoners it releases should be
immediately deported and go into exile outside Israel, the West Bank or Gaza,
the Western diplomat and the two Hamas officials said.
"In light of this, Hamas
refused to accept the American-Israeli paper," one of the officials said.
A three-phase framework for a
ceasefire deal has been on the table since late December, but the multiple
disputes between Israel and Hamas over key details have made an agreement
impossible.
The United States, along with
mediators Qatar and Egypt, is trying to keep negotiations alive to end Israel's
10-month-campaign in Gaza and return remaining hostages seized by Hamas and its
allies on Oct. 7.
The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas
gunmen stormed into Israeli communities and military bases, killing around
1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 40,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, according to
Palestinian health authorities.