Arab, Israeli officials nonetheless cautiously optimistic on progress in negotiations, which Washington hopes could be renewed this week despite Hamas’s apparent displeasure
Israeli officials downplayed reports Saturday that the United States was rewording portions of the proposed hostage deal in an attempt to revive negotiations and push Hamas toward accepting the offer, even as the terror group appeared to reject the possibility of renewing dialogue.
“Israel is committed to the terms of the proposal that [US] President Biden endorsed,” an Israeli official said, indicating that it would not approve changes that dramatically altered the deal as it was presented last month. “There is no change at all in its position.”
Meanwhile, a top Hamas official told reporters on Saturday that the group had received the latest proposal on June 24, but that it included “nothing new.”
The statement came as the terror group announced that its Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh had spoken with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel — a mediator in the talks — and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin about the negotiations.
Talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar have so far failed to secure any ceasefire and release of hostages held by Hamas, since a weeklong truce in November that saw the release of 105 captives.
Citing three sources with direct knowledge of the talks, the Axios news site reported on Saturday that the mediators were making changes to the deal that US President Joe Biden presented in a May 31 speech, in an effort to “bridge the gap” between Israel and Hamas.
The proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas would release living female, elderly and sick hostages. In tandem, the sides would hold further talks to secure a second six-week truce during which Hamas would release the remaining living hostages, including young men and male soldiers.
Changes were said to focus on the proposal’s Clause 8, which deals with talks to be held during the first ceasefire. Channel 12 reported Saturday night that mediators were also reexamining Clause 14, which deals with the transition between the deal’s first two phases.
The Kan public broadcaster on Saturday quoted an Arab source with knowledge of the matter as saying that Egypt and Qatar had presented Hamas with a new draft proposal that included changes regarding the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel.
Changes were also made to reflect Hamas’s preferred terminology of a “ceasefire” and “full withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip, the source said.
“We may be closer to a deal, but the ball is now in Hamas and Israel’s court,” the source was quoted as saying.
According to the public broadcaster, Israel has approved recent revisions to the draft proposal, leading Washington to examine the possibility of renewing in-person talks as soon as this week.
Jerusalem currently puts more stock in Qatar than Egypt as a mediator, Kan reported, since Doha has proven itself capable of influencing Hamas. Cairo, on the other hand, is thought to be preoccupied with removing Israeli forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt.
Earlier rounds in the talks have faltered, in part, due to Israel’s refusal to commit to a full cessation of the fighting in Gaza as long as Hamas remains in power there, as well as the terror group’s refusal to discuss releasing the hostages while Israel remains in the Gaza Strip.
The proposal presented by Biden included the provision that Israel retreat from the Strip’s densely populated areas.
Hamas politburo member Osama Hamdan denied on Saturday, however, that any progress had been made in the truce-hostage talks.
“We can say that there is no real progress in the negotiations to stop the [Israeli] aggression so far,” Hamdan said at a press conference in Beirut, charging that the proposals were “merely a waste of time and provide additional time for the occupation to practice genocide.”
Israel has been accused of committing acts of genocide in its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza. Israel strongly denies the charges and notes that Hamas embeds its military infrastructure and its fighters among the civilian population in the Strip.
Hamas was being pressured to accept Israel’s deal “as it is without modification,” Hamdan charged.
Nevertheless, several Israeli officials expressed cautious optimism that the sides were getting closer to a deal.
Channel 13 quoted an Israeli official as saying that “there is an opening for a change in Hamas’s position and progress toward a deal.”
The source was said to add that Jerusalem approved of the changes Washington is making to certain clauses in the hostage deal, so long as it did not consider them to depart dramatically from the proposal presented by Biden.
Kan also cited Israeli officials as saying that Jerusalem was prepared to hold negotiations before the end of the operation in Rafah, and that the talks could commence soon — while Israel could still apply military pressure in Gaza’s southernmost city.
The reports came as Israel was said to be preparing to scale back its fighting in the Gaza Strip, after IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said last week that the military was “approaching the point” at which Hamas’s Rafah battalions could be considered to have been dismantled.
AFP and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-hamas-downplay-reports-of-us-altering-hostage-deal-as-it-seeks-to-revive-talks/.