The road is very narrow for an agreement between the parties on the ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. The talks, after the stop of the last few days in Doha, will resume in Cairo: the US continues to maintain that an agreement “is in sight”, but the signals coming from Israel and Hamas suggest that a turning point is not imminent. The Israeli negotiating team flew to Cairo last night. The team, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, also includes Major General Eliezer Toledano, chief of strategy for the IDF General Staff. According to CNN, the US negotiators will still be led by CIA chief William Burns, the lead US negotiator on the hostage issue. But the Israeli team is reportedly at odds with Benjamin Netanyahu over how to conduct negotiations to reach a deal in Gaza, the Israeli press reports.
Netanyahu reportedly told political figures in recent days that the negotiating team is weak and constantly tries to compromise in the talks, while he is “alone” in trying to protect Israel’s security needs, Channel 12 reported. Netanyahu has reportedly repeatedly chided face-to-face negotiators for their apparent weakness, and is now sharing those criticisms with political interlocutors. The crux of the matter is whether the IDF will continue to hold the Gaza-Egypt border area in the event of a deal. Netanyahu insists that an Israeli presence on the Philadelphia Corridor is crucial to preventing Hamas from rearming, while Hamas says Israeli forces must withdraw completely. Sources cited by Israeli media say that Hamas is particularly concerned about the latest demand to keep troops deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, an east-west strip liberated by Israel during the current war, which prevents Palestinians from moving freely between northern and southern Gaza, as well as in the narrow border strip between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas believes Israel changed its conditions and parameters “at the last minute” and fears that any concessions could be met with further demands, one of the sources close to the talks told Reuters.
According to Channel 12, Netanyahu sent Israeli negotiators to Cairo with updated maps showing a reduced IDF deployment along the Philadelphia Corridor. The question now is whether Netanyahu’s latest position will be enough for Egypt to push Hamas into accepting a deal, Israeli media added. Channel 12, citing Egyptian sources, also said Hamas was ready to consider a deal under which international forces would be deployed in both the Philadelphia Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the southern Gaza Strip from the north. Egypt is ready to take increased security measures in the Philadelphia Corridor, but rejects the presence of Israeli troops. Qatari daily Al-Araby Al-Jadeed wrote that the Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo with a new proposal that would include a UN monitoring mission permanently deployed at several fixed points along the Gaza-Egypt border. The European Union would have a mission at the Rafah crossing along with the Palestinian Authority, according to the plan. IDF troops would gradually withdraw from the border, the report said. But Netanyahu’s office denied the reports: “Prime Minister Netanyahu insists on the principle that Israel will control the Philadelphia route, to prevent the rearmament of Hamas, which would allow it to repeat the atrocities of October 7,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.