New Delhi: Though Israel has reportedly offered a two-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages by Hamas amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, it is unlikely that the Jewish nation will stop its offensive once the truce period gets over as it will try to achieve all its war aims.
Israel has given Hamas a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that includes up to two months of a pause in the fighting as part of a multi-phase deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, American news website Axios has reported.
Citing two Israeli officials, the report said that while the proposal doesn’t include an agreement to end the fighting, it is the longest period of ceasefire that Israel has offered Hamas since the start of the war in October last year.
Over 25,000 Palestinians, including thousands of women and children, have been killed by Israel after the surprise Hamas attack on October 7 left over 1,200 people dead. Thousands more are feared buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The Axios report cited the two Israeli officials as saying that the Israeli war cabinet approved 10 days ago the parameters of a new proposal for a hostage deal, “which are different from past aspects of deals rejected by Hamas and more forward-leaning than previous Israeli proposals”.
However, according to reports coming in, Hamas has rejected the latest ceasefire offer from Israel. The Associated Press cited an Israeli official as saying that Hamas has refused to release more hostages until Israel ends its ongoing war on the besieged Gaza Strip and withdraws its forces.
After Hamas rejected Israel’s two-month ceasefire offer, latest reports suggest that the two sides are now making headway in talks for a 30-day truce.
“A lot of permutations and combinations are going on during the talks for a one-month ceasefire,” S Samuel C Rajiv, Associate Fellow in the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and whose area of interest is the Israel-Palestine issue, told ETV Bharat.
“The Hamas leaders present in Gaza will be allowed to leave for other countries,” Rajiv said. “This will ensure that there is no Hamas leadership left in Gaza. This is the war aim of Israel.”
He said that over the past two weeks, the Israeli military leadership met at Khan Yunis in south Gaza. This indicates that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has control over much of the Gaza Strip.
“The fact of the matter is that even if a ceasefire deal is reached and Hamas releases some of the hostages, Israel will again resume its operations once the truce period is over,” Rajiv said. “Israel will not stop attacking till all the hostages are released," he said.
Rajiv's observations corroborate with the Israeli official quoted by AP who said Jerusalem has refused to discuss offers that include a commitment to stopping the war on Gaza, which Hamas is demanding.
It is important to note that even during these mediation attempts, Israel continues to press ahead with its assault on Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city, and has killed over 200 people in the last 24 hours. Egypt and Qatar are yet again at the centre of this mediation, working to develop a multi-stage proposal to bridge the gaps between the two sides.
A report in The Times of Israel says the Israeli proposal would see the remaining children, women, men over the age of 60 and critically ill hostages released during the first stage.
“Subsequent stages would see the release of female soldiers and men under the age of 60 who are not soldiers, followed by male soldiers and the bodies of hostages,” the report stated. “Under the proposal, Israel and Hamas would agree in advance as to how many (Palestinian) security prisoners would be released by Jerusalem in each stage, before holding separate negotiations on the names of the convicts.”
A weeklong truce in November had seen the release of 100 of the 240-odd hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza after the October 7 attack. According to reports, there are a total of 136 hostages that Hamas is holding as of now.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Israel’s spy chief has proposed to allow Hamas leaders to leave Gaza as part of a broader ceasefire deal. Several Hamas leaders are based in Doha, Qatar, and in Beirut, Lebanon.
“Israel’s suggestion that Hamas leaders could leave Gaza, though unlikely to be accepted by Hamas, has been discussed as part of broader ceasefire negotiations at least twice in recent weeks — once last month in Warsaw by Israel’s intelligence chief, Mossad Director David Barnea, and then again this month in Doha with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,” the CNN report stated citing an official familiar with the discussions.
Israel’s latest offer comes after the families of the hostages have been mounting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal. On Monday, dozens of relatives stormed a parliamentary committee meeting in the Knesset, demanding that the government seek a deal to win their loved ones’ release.
On the same day, 24 Israeli soldiers were killed, the largest Israeli death toll in a single day since the start of Israeli military operations in Gaza, the narrow strip of land on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea that is one of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank.
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