‘Gaps’ between Israel and Hamas that are blocking Gaza ceasefire

Israeli soldiers on exerecise in the Golan Heights – JALAA MAREY/AFP

Israel and Hamas have rejected each other’s proposals for a ceasefire and hostages deal.

Hamas unexpectedly signed a version of the deal on Monday, but it contained amendments to which Israel had previously not agreed.

However, the White House said there were only “gaps” in two sides’ positions – and they could be bridged.

An Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo for talks on Wednesday. Here are the key sticking points.

End of war

Hamas has rejected previous drafts of a ceasefire deal as it offered only a limited ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have died since October.

Israel blocked attempts to add caveats allowing for a lasting truce, as the Israeli leadership insisted that the IDF’s operation in Gaza should continue until a “total victory” over Hamas has been achieved.

As the prospects of such a victory became elusive, Israel last month agreed to a draft deal that would allow a six-week ceasefire, accompanied by a partial withdrawal of its troops. The second stage of the ceasefire then talks about creating “conditions for a sustainable calm”.

The vague phrasing left room for interpretation and could have potentially allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get it past his hard-Right allies in the government.

But the proposal that Hamas signed on to on Monday described a permanent end to hostilities and the IDF’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, to which no one in the Israeli government is prepared to agree.

Palestinians flee Rafah – ANADOLU

Hostage release

Israel has blocked previous ceasefire deals while it demanded that Hamas provide a full list of hostages, some of whom they suspected were already dead.

Hamas insisted it needed a ceasefire in place first in order to locate and identify each hostage. Several Israelis appear to have been abducted by mobs that followed Hamas fighters from Gaza in the chaos of the Oct 7 attack.

Israel most recently agreed to lower the number of vulnerable hostages to be released in the first stage of a ceasefire, from 40 to 33 after Hamas claimed it did not have that many female, underage, elderly or wounded hostages to set free.

Under the proposal approved by Hamas on Monday the dead bodies of some of the women and children could be included in the first hostage release.

Palestinian prisoners

Under the first and only hostage deal that came through in November, Israel released some 150 women and children from Israeli prisons, none of whom were jailed for violent crimes.

The latest proposal put forward by Israel offers a gradual release of more Palestinian prisoners depending on the release of the Israeli hostages.

Israel committed to free 20 prisoners aged over 50 serving short sentences for every vulnerable hostage and 20 prisoners serving life for every female soldier released.

Hamas, however, is seeking higher-profile prisoners including those convicted of terrorism. Hamas demanded that at least 30 of 400 in total would be serving life sentences for terrorism charges.

The deal put forward by the Israelis provided for a veto on the identities of the Palestinian prisoners.

The possibility of a veto was removed by Hamas from the draft it adopted on Monday.

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