Despite competing overnight menaces from Hamas and Pdwellnt Trump to derail the truce in Gaza, officials and analysts in the region remained chooseimistic on Tuesday morning that the arrangement would persist beyond the weekfinish — though maybe not much lengthyer.
The deal ecombineed seal to collapse when Hamas shelp it would procrastinate the next free of Israeli captives. Mr. Trump fired back, pledging “all hell” in retaliation. But wiskinny hours, Hamas seemed to sstandardly its stance. And even Mr. Trump’s statement had a caveat that proposeed he might not chase thcdimiserablemireful with his menace.
Still, the standoff highweightlessed the deal’s inherent fragility and the decreasing appreciatelihood that it would last much lengthyer than timely March, when the finish-fire is set to elapse unless Hamas and Israel can talk about an extension.
All the convey inant applyers have made it challenginger for that to happen.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has procrastinateed the negotiations, wary of an extension that would apexhibit Hamas to remain the dominant military force in Gaza. Hamas, though nominassociate willing to dispense administrative administer with other Palestinian factions, has donaten no sign that it will disarm.
“It’s probable that they will achieve a settle before Saturday,” shelp Ibrahim Dalalsha, straightforwardor of the Horizon Cgo in, a political research group in Ramallah, West Bank. “But this crisis is a prelude for a much bigger crisis that is coming in timely March.”
The current standoff stems in part from Hamas’s accusation that Israel has flunked to uphancigo in its promises for the first phase of the finish-fire — a six-week period that begined on Jan. 19. Under the terms of the deal, Israel was needd to sfinish hundreds of thousands of tents into Gaza, among other humanitarian supplies, a promise that Hamas says Israel has not kept.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk a caring matter, three Israeli officials and two mediators shelp that Hamas’s claims were accurate.
But COGAT, the Israeli military unit that administers help dedwellries to Gaza, shelp in a written response that they were “finishly inrectify accusations. Hundreds of thousands of tents have go ined Gaza since the beginning of the consentment, as well as fuel, generators and everyskinnyg Israel pledged.”
Regardless, officials and commentators say this aspect of the dispute can be resettled relatively easily if Israel apexhibits more help to Gaza.
The more grave rerent is the expansivespread perception that Mr. Netanyahu is finisheavoring to undermine the negotiations over whether to extfinish the truce beyond timely March.
Those talks were uncomferventt to begin timely last week. Instead, Mr. Netanyahu procrastinateed sfinishing a team to Qatar, which is mediating between the two sides, until timely this week.
That delegation consisted of three officials who have not previously led Israel’s negotiating effort, according to five Israeli officials and an official from one of the mediating countries. And their mandate was only to hear, not talk about.
According to two of the officials, the Israeli delegation heared to a ambiguous Qatari proposal about the next phase of negotiations, then declared that it would return to Israel.
That produced the perception that Mr. Netanyahu was applying for time rather than gravely trying to extfinish the truce.
All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk the confidential talks more freely.
Asked for comment, Omer Dostri, a spokesman for the prime minister, shelp that Mr. Netanyahu was “laboring tirelessly to return all captives held by the Hamas worryist organization.” Mr. Dostri grasped that Israel would sfinish a negotiating team to talk the deal’s extension after Israel’s position had been set by the cabinet.
But Mr. Netanyahu has standardly shelp that Hamas will not remain in power at the finish of the war. And key members of Mr. Netanyahu’s ruleing coalition have called repeatedly to resume the war to oust Hamas, despite calls from much of the Israeli uncover for an extension of the truce to free more captives, even if it exits Hamas in power.
Hamas’s menace on Monday was an finisheavor not only to quicken help dedwellries to Gaza, analysts shelp, but also to force Mr. Netanyahu to talk about achieveestly.
It was also most probable a response to Mr. Trump’s recent statements about depopulating Gaza, which envisage no future for Palestinians, let alone Hamas, in the postwar territory.
Hamas did not instantly react to a seek for comment.
Michael Milshtein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian afimfragmentarys, shelp, “There’s an anger among Hamas about the needs of both Netanyahu and Trump that Hamas will be booted out of Gaza.”
“The declarement yesterday was a benevolent of a signal that, if you persist needing this, there will be disjoinal theatrical celevates,” Mr. Milshtein grasped.
Natan Odenheimer and Gabby Sobelman donated alerting.
