U.S. plans to present ‘take it or leave it’ Israel-Gaza cease-fire deal soon

U.S. officials said President Joe Biden’s months-long push for a cease-fire and hostage-release deal faced renewed urgency on Sunday after Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The United States has been talking to Egypt and Qatar about the contours of a final “take it or leave it” deal that it plans to present to the parties in the coming weeks — one that, if the two sides fail to accept it, could mark the end of the American-led negotiations, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private and sensitive deliberations. This process has to be called at some point,” said the senior official, who said that the United States, Egypt and Qatar had been working on the final proposal before the six hostages were found dead in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in.” Advertisement The Israel Defense Forces said the six hostages were killed by their captors “shortly before” they were discovered. The senior administration official said the United States holds a similar assessment, believing that all six hostages were shot in the head and executed not long before their bodies were discovered. Inside Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing fury and increased pressure from the hostages’ families, who are demanding that he address the nation. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in nationwide demonstrations Sunday night, and Israel’s largest labor union called for a general strike Monday — threatening to shut down the country until Netanyahu agreed to a deal with Hamas to return the remaining captives. Dennis Ross, a former American envoy to Israel, said Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar, is unlikely to change his position because no one is able to exert pressure on him, but that it remains to be seen whether pressure inside Israel could force Netanyahu to more seriously engage in negotiations. “For now, [Sinwar] will wait to see whether the general strike in Israel leads to a softening of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s conditions,” Ross said in an interview. “The strike, the likely massive protest, is in support of the hostage families and their view that Netanyahu’s strategy both in the negotiations and increasing IDF increase pressure on Hamas has failed.” Hamas, in a statement, blamed Israeli bombings for the deaths, adding that “if President Biden is concerned about their lives, he must stop supporting this enemy with money and weapons and pressure the occupation to end its aggression immediately.” On Sept. 1, Republicans and Democrats called for a deal that would release hostages and pause fighting in Gaza after Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post) The Israel-Gaza war has created deep divisions among Democrats and across the United States since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, when militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. Advertisement Last week, U.S. officials were negotiating some of the final details of a “bridging proposal” they put forward between Israel and Hamas to try to hash out remaining differences. The discussions last week focused primarily on which hostages would be exchanged for specific Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, some of whom were detained without trial, according to one of the senior officials. The first phase of hostages includes women, the elderly and the ill and wounded — a group that included Goldberg-Polin, the 23-year-old American Israeli whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month. Two Israeli women, Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi, whose bodies were also recovered by the IDF on Saturday, were also on the list of those who would have been released in the first phase, the senior official said. Advertisement Those negotiations have taken on added complexity now that the six hostages are confirmed to be dead, the two senior administration officials said. Some Middle East experts said that the fewer living hostages there are, the less pressure there will be on Netanyahu to come to a deal — U.S. officials fear the number of living hostages may number only in the dozens. Hamas has proved obstinate at various points in the talks, even as Israeli officials have made concessions, the official said. For now, he will be under a lot more domestic pressure to accept a cease-fire deal that saves the remaining hostages,” said Frank Lowenstein, a former State Department official who helped lead Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2014. “And if he waits this out, over time fewer living hostages could mean fewer Palestinian prisoners to release and what he sees as a more favorable negotiating position.” Advertisement Both Netanyahu and Hamas — particularly the group’s leader, Sinwar — have at various points been stubborn in reaching a deal. Netanyahu has come under intense criticism by the Israeli security establishment, domestic political opponents and the hostage families for delaying the conclusion of a deal by insisting in recent months on new demands, such as an indefinite Israeli military presence along the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors, two strategic corridors that mark the border area between Egypt and Gaza and a four-mile-long road just south of Gaza City that runs from east to west, respectively. officials are going to be burning up the phones over the next 48 hours to see if a deal can still be reached,” a second senior U.S. official said. In the hours after this weekend’s discovery, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris decided against publicly pressuring Netanyahu into a deal, choosing instead to unreservedly condemn Hamas for taking the lives of the hostages, even as Israelis harshly criticize Netanyahu. Advertisement Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza, criticized Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister has “decided to bury them in the rubble of his politics. … His hands are covered in the blood of the hostages who are being murdered in captivity.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has emerged as one of Netanyahu’s fiercest critics, has also downplayed the benefits of continuing the war and bargaining for better deal terms versus securing the release of the hostages. Republicans argued that the discovery of the bodies highlighted why Israel must be allowed to continue its widely criticized military campaign to destroy Hamas, an effort that has decimated Gaza, with some even calling on the United States to consider bombing oil fields in Iran in what would be considered an act of war. The Biden administration and Israel “should hold Iran accountable for the fate of remaining hostages and put on the target list oil refineries in Iran if the hostages are not released,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Advertisement “The Hostage Crisis in Israel is only taking place because Comrade Kamala Harris is weak and ineffective, and has no idea what she’s doing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Biden failed, and now he spends his day on the beach, plotting and scheming how to take out his once Political Opponent, ME … THE OCTOBER 7th ISRAELI CRISIS WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT!” Democrats, meanwhile, said the news heightened the urgency to reach a deal, end the war and surge desperately needed humanitarian aid into the enclave. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/01/biden-israel-gaza-ceasefire-deal/