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Israel missed its own deadline to respond to a temporary ceasefire and captive release deal that Hamas accepted over a week ago, with Israeli authorities appearing “unwilling” to accept the framework despite Hamas saying that the agreement contains significant concessions in Israel’s favor.
Qatari officials said on Tuesday that they have not heard from Israel about the framework, presented by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, even though Israel said that it was going to respond by Friday, August 22.
Israel appears “unwilling to reach an agreement,” said Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari, per Al Jazeera.
“We are in contact with all parties in pursuit of a ceasefire agreement, but there is no official Israeli response — neither acceptance, rejection, nor the presentation of an alternative proposal,” al-Ansari said. “We do not take seriously the media statements in Israel and are awaiting an official response to the proposal.”
Hamas announced over a week ago that it has agreed to the latest proposal. The details of the framework haven’t been released to the public, but reports have said that it involves a 60-day pause in attacks and an increase in humanitarian aid. Hamas would release roughly half of the remaining 50 Israeli captives in this time, while Israel would release some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it’s holding in captivity.
Qatari officials say the proposal is “almost identical” to one put forth by U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, in June. That proposal, in fact, reportedly involved the release of fewer Israeli captives than the current deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, however, imposed a new condition on the framework last week, insisting that it involve the release of all Israeli captives — likely a nonstarter without a plan for a permanent ceasefire agreement, especially as Israel escalates its campaign to raze Gaza City and annex the Strip.
The introduction of a last-minute demand echoes a tactic taken by Israel numerous times amid the genocide, of insisting on a condition that Israeli officials know will be rejected out of hand right as negotiations are nearing completion. Former U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller recently effectively admitted that this is a known tactic of Netanyahu’s to allow Israel to continue its genocide.
Israel’s refusal to accept the agreement comes even though Hamas agreed to significant concessions in the latest proposal.
Drop Site reported last week that Hamas agreed to provisions like allowing Israel to continue its occupation of Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi corridor, which was previously a red line for Hamas. Another significant concession reportedly involved the removal of Hamas’s demand that the Israel- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation scheme be removed from the Strip amid the ceasefire.
The top negotiator for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed resistance group in Gaza that has participated in ceasefire negotiations, said that Palestinian negotiators are effectively daring Israel to finally accept a ceasefire deal.
“If the Israeli government now refuses to accept the mediators’ proposal — which is fundamentally their own — it exposes the true nature of the Israeli position, shielded by the United States, regarding the entirety of the negotiation process: using it for stalling and gaining time to commit further crimes. There is no longer any room for concessions or futile negotiations,” the official, Mohammed Al-Hindi, told Drop Site.
Israelis have launched protests against Netanyahu’s refusal to secure the release of the captives. By demanding that all of the captives be released and delaying an agreement, after all, he is ensuring that numerous Israelis remain in captivity in Gaza indefinitely — potentially facing injury, famine, or death at the hands of Israeli forces.
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