As Hamas considers cease-fire, question hangs: Will Israel end war without the group’s destruction?
By BASSEM MROUE and LEE KEATH (Related Press)
BEIRUT — Hamas on Thursday was contemplating the newest proposal for a cease-fire with Israel that the US and different mediators hope will avert an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah. However probabilities for the deal are entangled with the query of whether or not Israel can settle for an finish to the conflict with out reaching its said purpose of destroying Hamas.
The stakes within the cease-fire negotiations had been made clear in a brand new U.N. report that stated if the conflict in Gaza stops as we speak, it should nonetheless take till 2040 to rebuild all of the houses which were destroyed by almost seven months of Israeli bombardment and floor offensives within the territory. It warned that the influence of the harm to the financial system will set again improvement for generations and can solely worsen with each month preventing continues.
Hamas has insisted it gained’t signal onto the deal with out assurances that, if it will definitely releases all its hostages, Israel will finish its onslaught in Gaza and pull its troops out of the territory.
The proposal that U.S. and Egyptian mediators have put to Hamas -– apparently with Israel’s acceptance — units out a three-stage course of that can convey a direct six-week cease-fire and partial hostage launch but additionally negotiations over a “everlasting calm” that features some form of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, in keeping with an Egyptian official.
If Israel does agree to finish the conflict in return for a full hostage launch, it might be a serious turnaround. Since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 assault surprised Israel, its leaders have vowed to not cease their bombardment and floor offensives till the militant group is destroyed. In addition they say Israel should preserve a army presence in Gaza and safety management after the conflict to make sure Hamas doesn’t rebuild.
Publicly not less than, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist that’s the solely acceptable endgame.
He has vowed that even when a cease-fire is reached, Israel will finally assault Rafah, which he says is Hamas’ final stronghold in Gaza. He repeated his willpower to take action in talks Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Israel on a regional tour to push the deal by.
The deal’s speedy destiny hinges on whether or not Hamas will settle for uncertainty over the ultimate phases to convey the preliminary six-week pause in preventing — and not less than postpone what it’s feared can be a devastating assault on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city the place some 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
Egypt has been privately assuring Hamas that the deal will imply a complete finish to the conflict. However the Egyptian official stated Hamas says the textual content’s language is simply too obscure and needs it to specify a whole Israeli pullout from all of Gaza. The official spoke on situation of anonymity to speak in regards to the inside deliberations.
The group continues to be learning the supply, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan stated in a message Thursday to The Related Press. He didn’t verify whether or not it might formally give a solution later within the day.
On Wednesday night, Hamdan expressed skepticism, saying the group’s preliminary place was “unfavourable.” Chatting with Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV, he stated talks had been nonetheless ongoing however would cease if Israel invades Rafah.
Blinken hiked up stress on Hamas to just accept, saying Israel had made “essential” compromises.
“There’s no time for additional haggling. The deal is there,” Blinken stated Wednesday earlier than leaving for the U.S.
Hanging over the negotiations is the specter of an Israeli assault on Rafah, which the U.S. and U.N. have warned could possibly be catastrophic for Palestinian civilians. After fleeing Israel’s assault elsewhere in Gaza, greater than half the territory’s inhabitants has crowded into tent camps and different shelters in and round Rafah.
The US, which has staunchly supported Israel all through the conflict, has stated it mustn’t transfer on Rafah and has grown more and more essential of the staggering toll borne by Palestinian civilians. American officers say they oppose a serious offensive in Rafah however that if Israel conducts one, it should first evacuate civilians. Israel has stated it’s growing plans for a mass evacuation of civilians.
The Israel-Hamas conflict was sparked by the Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel by which militants killed round 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, and kidnapped round 250 hostages. Hamas is believed to nonetheless maintain round 100 hostages and the stays of greater than 30 others.
Since then, Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza has killed greater than 34,000 Palestinians, in keeping with native well being officers. It has wreaked huge destruction and introduced a humanitarian catastrophe, with a number of hundred thousand Palestinians in northern Gaza dealing with imminent famine, in keeping with the U.N. Greater than 80% of the inhabitants has been pushed from their houses.
The “productive foundation of the financial system has been destroyed” and poverty is rising sharply amongst Palestinians, in keeping with the report launched Thursday by the United Nations Improvement Program and the Financial and Social Fee for Western Asia.
It stated that in 2024, all the Palestinian financial system -– together with each Gaza and the West Financial institution -– has to this point contracted 25.8%. If the conflict continues, the loss will attain a “staggering” 29% by July, it stated. The West Financial institution financial system has been hit by Israel’s determination to cancel the work permits for tens of 1000’s of laborers who relied on jobs inside Israel.
“Each extra day that this conflict continues is exacting large and compounding prices to Gazans and all Palestinians. … These new figures warn that the struggling in Gaza is not going to finish when the conflict does,” stated UNDP administrator Achim Steiner. He warned of a “critical improvement disaster that jeopardizes the way forward for generations to come back.”
The report stated not less than 370,000 housing items in Gaza have been broken, together with 79,000 destroyed utterly. After earlier Israel-Hamas conflicts, housing was rebuilt at a charge of 992 items 12 months. Even when Israel permits a five-fold enhance of development materials to enter Gaza, it might take till 2040 to rebuild the destroyed homes with out repairing the broken ones, it stated.
Throughout his go to, Blinken stated new steps by Israel, together with the opening of one other border crossing and an offshore pier set to open within the coming week, are serving to to extend the circulate of humanitarian help into Israel. However he stated such efforts should be sustained.
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Keath reported from Cairo.
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