Cease-fire talks approach breaking point as Hamas, Israel trade blame

U.S. efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas showed little progress Tuesday, as Hamas publicly pushed back on President Biden’s criticism that the designated terrorist group was holding back on agreeing to the terms of the deal that Washington is working to finalize this week.  

In a statement released to Telegram, Hamas said it “followed with great astonishment and disapproval” Biden’s statements Monday night accusing the group of backing away from talks. 

Hamas criticized Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken of “misleading claims”; the terrorist group said it “is keen to reach a cessation of aggression,” but that the U.S. was negotiating with bias in favor of Israel.  

Biden told reporters in Chicago following his speech at the Democratic National Convention that “Hamas was now backing off,” and that the U.S. is “going to keep pushing” to achieve a cease-fire deal.

The president’s remarks followed Blinken publicly calling for Hamas to accept a U.S.-led “bridging proposal” to finalize the terms of the cease-fire.

Blinken is in the region for talks with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials to conclude negotiations on a multiphase cease-fire agreement that would halt more than 10 months of war. 

The cease-fire broadly calls for an immediate six-week truce, for Hamas to release hostages it kidnapped from Israel during its Oct. 7 terrorist attack and for Israel to release Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. 

On Monday night, Blinken left Israel, saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a U.S.-led “bridging proposal” to finalize the terms of the cease-fire. The office of the Israeli prime minister released a statement Monday saying that Netanyahu “reiterated Israel’s commitment to the current American proposal on the release of our hostages, which takes into account Israel’s security needs.” 

The secretary met Tuesday with Egyptian officials in Cairo and is next traveling to Doha to meet with Qatari officials, who serve as go-betweens in negotiations with Hamas. 

Yet Hamas’s commitment to reaching a cease-fire agreement is unclear. The parties have failed to achieve a deal since November, with power concentrated in the hands of Hamas’s top leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding underground in Gaza. 

Sinwar, described by a U.S. official as “messianic” and a “psychopath,” reportedly views the ongoing war as a benefit in isolating Israel internationally over the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis.

Hamas on Tuesday condemned an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City, which it said killed 12 civilians, while the Israeli military said the school was being used as a command and control center by the terrorist group. The Israeli military said that it sought to mitigate the harm to civilians by using “precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

Still, Hamas accuses Netanyahu of moving the goalposts of the U.S.-led cease-fire proposal, with sticking points to the deal reportedly hinging on security arrangements related to control of the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Netzarim Corridor, a security zone controlled by the Israeli military dividing the north of the strip from the south. 

The Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said last week that the military is preparing for different security scenarios based on the decisions surrounding the cease-fire talks, with such decisions including whether to maintain forces in the Philadelphi Corridor or implement surveillance with the option to carry out security raids. 

“If they decide that we stay in the Philadelphi Corridor, we will know how to stay there and stay strong. If they decide that we monitor and raid every time we have an indication, we will know how to do that,” he said. 

But Netanyahu on Tuesday reportedly told a group of families of hostages held by Hamas that in his meeting with Blinken, he said Israel would not leave the Philadelphi or Netzarim corridors. The families Netanyahu met are part of a hawkish sect of Israeli society that advocates for continuing Israel’s military operation against Hamas over agreeing to a cease-fire deal. 

Hamas kidnapped approximately 250 people from Israel during its Oct. 7 terrorist attack — from a music festival, in the street and in their homes and communities — and the group kidnapped soldiers from military bases and in the field. A weeklong cease-fire between Israel and Hamas at the end of November facilitated the release of about 100 people. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack.

It’s unclear how many remaining hostages are alive. The Israeli military said Monday it recovered the bodies of six Israelis who were alive when they were kidnapped on Oct. 7 and are believed to have died in Hamas captivity. The Israeli military also said the bodies were recovered from Hamas tunnels under the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, in an area that was previously part of the humanitarian zone designated by the Israeli army. 

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which advocates for a cease-fire deal, released a statement Tuesday calling on the Israeli government, with the assistance of mediators, to do “everything in its power to finalize the deal currently on the table.”