As the United States secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv under diplomatic pressure to push for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal in Gaza, Hamas announced it had rejected Israel’s newest proposal.
Israel demanded a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. It said both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north.
Hamas said this violates its long-standing conditions.
“After being briefed by the mediators about what happened in the last round of talks in Doha, we once again came to the conclusion that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement andcond is setting new conditions and demands with the aim of undermining the mediators’ efforts and prolonging the war,” it said in a statement.
The group was considering a bridging proposal put forward by the US, Egypt and Qatar after mediation talks with Israeli officials last week.
‘Netanyahu fully responsible’ for failure of mediators’ efforts
Hamas has consistently opposed a continuing Israeli presence inside Gaza and control of the Egyptian border.
The group has also maintained that it will not agree to a ceasefire that is not permanent.
While not directly involved in the talks, Hamas said the latest proposal diverges significantly from a previous iteration it had accepted in principle in June.
“He [Netanyahu] also set new conditions in the prisoner exchange file, and backed down from others, which all prevent the completion of the exchange deal,” it said.
“We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for the failure of the mediators’ efforts, the obstruction of reaching an agreement, and fully responsible for the lives of his prisoners, who are exposed to the same danger that our people are exposed to due to his continued aggression and systematic targeting of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.”
Netanyahu had earlier told an Israeli cabinet that he would remain firm.
“We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” he said.
“There are things we can be flexible on, and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.
“We know how to distinguish between the two very well.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is in Tel Aviv for a visit aimed at ramping up political pressure to move towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Source: AAP / Kevin Mohatt/AP
US optimistic about ceasefire deal
The US has been talking up prospects of a deal, saying its goal was to have a ceasefire signed by the end of the week.
US President Joe Biden said a deal was “much, much closer” than before the talks began.
“We may have something,” he said in Washington on Friday.
“But we’re not there yet.
“It’s far from over. Just a couple more issues, I think we got a shot.”
The US was hoping a ceasefire deal could prevent Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah from attacking Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of two prominent militant leaders in Beirut and Tehran.
In his ninth trip to the region since the war began last October, Blinken will meet with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a senior state department official.
After Israel, the top US diplomat will continue to Egypt as part of his Middle East tour.
Gaza’s death toll climbs
Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed 28 people.
It includes a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter, a teacher, was with her husband and their children when their house was struck.
He said the children were as young as 18 months and included quintuplets.
“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters.
“What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? … Will this provide security to Israel?”Another strike east of Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, according to an AP journalist at the hospital.
Another strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.
Palestinians injured in an Israeli strike east of Khan Younis arrive at the Nasser Hospital. Source: AAP / Haitham Imad/EPA
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group conceals fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.
But the Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children.
The Health Ministry in Gaza announced this month that Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, including more than 16,000 children.
It’s also displaced the majority of the territory’s 2.3 million residents.
With reporting by the Australian Associated Press and the Reuters news agency.
