Clear path in Israel for the Government to approve the truce in Gaza

Unexpected and dramatic crisis that delays and may even prevent the truce agreement solemnly announced by Joe Biden and Donald Trump or an expected and final negotiating struggle that simply postpones the meeting of the Israeli cabinet to approve it?

The answer to this disturbing question that arose mid-morning following the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accusing Hamas of creating a “last minute crisis that prevents the agreement” It came on Thursday afternoon, when the two sides and the mediators confirmed that the last obstacles had been resolved while the Israeli air offensive in the Gaza Strip continued on the ground.

The last obstacles created at the last moment in the negotiation between Israel y Hamas have been resolved this Thursday afternoon, so the plan announced yesterday for start the truce next Sunday. The Israeli Cabinet is scheduled to meet this Friday morning to approve the agreement that ends 15 months of war in the Gaza Strip.

The news represents a relief after the unexpected crisis that throughout the day had delayed, and even threatened to prevent, the agreement solemnly announced by Joe Biden y Donald Trump. Everything has ended in a last and expected negotiating struggle that simply postpones the Israeli Cabinet meeting to approve it.

By mid-morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement accusing Hamas of creating a “last-minute crisis that prevents the deal.” According to the complaint, the fundamentalist group has backtracked on “parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an extortion attempt to achieve concessions at the last minute.”

“Israel will not set a time for the Cabinet and Government meeting until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” concludes the statement in Jerusalem that has caused alarm among the families of the 98 kidnapped alive and dead. dead still in captivity in the Gaza Strip who must be gradually released thanks to the ceasefire agreement reached with American-Egyptian-Qatari mediation to end more than 15 months of war.

Hamas rejected the accusations and, in the words of one of its senior officials, Izzat el Reshiq, the armed group “is committed to the ceasefire announced by the mediators.” The Islamist leader Sami Abu Zuhri, for his part, repeats the message and denounces that Netanyahu’s statements in his statement “they have no basis”. In an interview with Al Arabi, he added that “the Trump Administration is committed to forcing Israel to comply with the agreement.”

In exchange for the return of the hostages -33 in the first phase of the truce extended in six weeks starting this Sunday-, Israel committed to the military withdrawal from the areas in the Gaza Strip that it has occupied since the massive operation launched in response to the armed attack of October 7, 2023 in the south of the country and to free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The last-minute disagreement between the two parties had revolved around this last aspect. In fact this morning, the prime minister’s office noted that Netanyahu spoke with his negotiating team in Doha and denounced: “Contrary to an express clause that grants Israel the right to veto over the release of mass murderers who are symbols of terrorism, Hamas demands to determine the identity of these terrorists.”

After the public announcement by Biden and Trump, the latter’s telephone conversation with Netanyahu about the agreement and the success of the negotiation announced by the mediators in Doha, It seems unlikely that the truce will not come into force in the coming days.

Beyond the differences with Hamas, Netanyahu has tried in recent hours to avoid a government crisis. The conservative leader, always attentive to the polls, knows that the majority of Israelis support the agreement for the return of the kidnapped people after 468 days in captivity, although he also knows that the truce in the current parameters is highly criticized on the right since it allows Hamas will continue as an armed and perhaps government force in Gaza. Although cabinet approval is guaranteed, two ultranationalist parties in the coalition will vote against it. In the last few hours, Netanyahu has tried to convince them not to leave the Government. Only if the two decided to leave, the coalition could be in danger, but the forecast of local analysts is that Bezalel Smotrish e Itamar Ben Gvir They will not rush to leave their important positions and bring down the Government.

“The agreement that will be presented to the Government is bad and dangerous for the Israel national security. Along with the great joy and emotion for the return of each and every one of the kidnapped people, the agreement takes away many achievements of the war in which the heroes of this nation sacrificed their lives and it will cost us a lot of blood,” Smotrish warned, demanding to resume the offensive until the “destruction of the terrorist organization Hamas and the return of all those kidnapped to their homes.”

In the last meetings with Netanyahu, Smotrish asked that the ceasefire not be definitive and that Israeli troops remain in the Philadelphia Axis, located in front of the Egyptian border in the south of the Gaza Strip. Two demands that contradict the message from the United States, Israel’s great ally, broadcast last night after announcing the agreement.

Between, on the one hand, the demands of the most ultra-nationalist wing of his coalition to resume the offensive immediately after the first phase of the truce and, on the other, pressure from the US and the vast majority of the families of the kidnapped in favor of the agreement, Netanyahu has searched for the formula that allows him to approve it without losing the majority in the Knesset. The opposition, which criticizes him for not having accepted the ceasefire and return of hostages proposal months ago for “political reasons”, maintains its offer of a security network so that he can sign the pact.