DOHA. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that the conflict in Gaza will continue after Hamas rejected a US-backed ceasefire proposal. Speaking on Wednesday, Blinken said, “The war will go on” because Hamas chose not to agree to the plans, which included the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.
“Hamas has made a choice to continue the war that they started,” Blinken stated, emphasizing the militant group’s decision to send back an “unworkable” counter-offer.
Leaked notes from Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s military leader and the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks, indicate that he aims to prolong the conflict to strengthen his negotiating position. Full details of the peace deal and Hamas’s amendments have not been disclosed. The US asserts that Israel has accepted the proposal, though Israel has not publicly confirmed this.
Hamas claimed it submitted a “positive” response that opened a “wide pathway” for agreement on the US-backed three-stage truce plan. However, Israel interpreted this as a rejection of the deal on the table.
Two weeks ago, President Joe Biden outlined the broad proposal in a speech, which includes a six-week initial ceasefire, during which Hamas would release some hostages in exchange for Israel freeing an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners. The plan would then transition to a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages, followed by a significant reconstruction effort in Gaza.
The delicate nature of transitioning from the first phase to a permanent ceasefire has been acknowledged, with potential for talks to falter at this stage.
Despite the proposal being introduced as an Israeli initiative, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes far-right members, has not publicly endorsed it. Blinken reiterated on Wednesday that Israel had accepted the proposal.
“Look, Israel accepted the proposal, Hamas didn’t … if Hamas continues to say no then it will be clear that they have made a choice to continue the war that they started,” Blinken told reporters in Doha.
He further stated, “A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to one that Hamas put forward on May 6 … Hamas could have answered with a single word: ‘Yes’. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that it had previously taken and accepted.”
“As a result, the war will go on,” Blinken said, while expressing his determination to achieve a deal.
The exact details of Hamas’s proposals deemed unacceptable were not elaborated upon. However, an official with knowledge of the talks told The Washington Post that Hamas’s amendments included a “timeline for a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.”
Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters that Hamas sought written guarantees from the US for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, expressing concerns that the current proposal did not provide explicit guarantees for the transition from the first to the second phase.
Reports have surfaced of a divide between Hamas’s political leadership and its Gaza-based military leadership under Sinwar. Secret messages from Sinwar to his negotiators suggested he was leveraging the mounting Palestinian death toll to his advantage. “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Sinwar said in one of dozens of messages to ceasefire negotiators obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this week, Blinken remarked that the responsibility to accept the peace plan was on “one guy” hiding “10 storeys underground in Gaza” to cast the deciding vote.
The increasing death toll in Gaza and growing public anger in Israel over the government’s handling of the war are putting pressure on both sides to reach an agreement.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
