Jerusalem: Israel and Hamas agreed on an initial six-week truce in part by putting most intractable disputes off until a nebulous second phase – which neither side is sure they will reach.
Under the agreement, 16 days into the initial ceasefire, Israeli and Hamas officials are expected to begin negotiating the next steps: an end to the war, the release of the remaining living hostages from the Gaza Strip, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.
Members of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, celebrate the ceasefire in Deir al-Balah.Credit: AP
Israeli leaders have long insisted that they will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed. That appeared far from reality on Sunday as Hamas militants, some waving rifles, fanned out in parts of Gaza in pickup trucks, in a show of authority to Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Israel and Hamas have both preserved some of their bargaining chips. At the end of the 42-day truce, Hamas will still have around two-thirds of the 98 remaining hostages, including dozens who are believed to be dead. And Israel will still occupy parts of Gaza, and hold major prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti, a militant leader and Palestinian political figure.
But as part of the talks, the Israeli government will then likely have to decide whether it is willing to choose one of its war aims, bringing home the hostages, over another, destroying Hamas. Choosing the hostages might threaten Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power in Israel.
In the meantime, both sides have agreed to postpone a decisive agreement as to the war’s end and the future of Gaza, and hope the 42-day ceasefire will play to their advantage, said Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli brigadier general. Hamas, in particular, “hopes that the new dynamic will prevent Israel from returning to fighting,” he said.
Qassam Brigades fighters control the crowd as Red Cross vehicles manoeuvre to collect Israeli hostages.Credit: AP
The decision to accept a temporary ceasefire opened deep fissures within Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which is stacked with hardliners. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, resigned from the cabinet in protest and withdrew his Jewish Power party from the coalition Sunday.
The Religious Zionism party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, threatened to bolt the coalition, too, if Netanyahu failed to renew the fighting after the end of the truce. If Smotrich’s party also left, Netanyahu’s government would hold fewer than half of the seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, which could cause the government to fall and force new elections.
