A senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented the Biden administration with a new proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, an Israeli official told CNN.
The proposal by Gal Hirsch, a close Netanyahu ally who serves as Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, would see a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza, the one-stage release of all hostages held there in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and safe passage for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to be exiled from Gaza, according to Kan 11, an Israeli national broadcaster and affiliate of CNN .
Reactions to the proposal have largely been that it will not be accepted by Hamas, which has not commented.
It is unclear whether the proposal addresses the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza after a cease-fire and hostage deal — a key sticking point in stalled negotiations. And the idea that Sinwar would leave Gaza is seen as unlikely by U.S. officials.
Another Israeli source familiar with the talks said the proposal was not being discussed among the Israeli negotiating team as a basis for new negotiations with Hamas, which have been stalled for weeks.
The Hostages Families Forum initially praised the sketch, but later on Thursday (19) called it a “cynical and cheap manipulation.”
“This is a fraud designed to frustrate the new American initiative to free the hostages and stop the war in Gaza,” the organization said. “We will soon celebrate one year of abandonment. This is a failure of morals and values that the state has never seen before.”
Negotiations stop
The proposal comes at a time when prospects for a deal have never been lower. Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have expressed dismay at the escalation of tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying a full-scale war there would only diminish the chances of a hostage deal.
Joe Biden’s national security advisers have no imminent plans to present the US president with an updated proposal in ceasefire negotiations in the war between Israel and Hamas, two senior administration officials told the CNN — the latest indication that negotiations to end the conflict are seriously stalled.
Netanyahu will not meet with Biden during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week, an Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN .
Hirsch met earlier last week with Roger Carstens, the US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, to discuss negotiations to free the hostages held in Gaza.
The notion of facilitating Sinwar’s exile was discussed at several points in the negotiations as part of the later stages of an eventual ceasefire agreement, although there is no indication that Sinwar would agree to such terms.
Gershon Baskin, who has extensive experience negotiating with Hamas, told CNN that anyone who thought Sinwar would leave Gaza “does not live in this world.”
“Gaza is the sea of Sinwar and he is a fish. A fish does not leave the sea of its own accord.”
However, if the deal included a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, it would come “close to a deal that Hamas is ready for,” Baskin added.
Previously, when the idea of allowing top Hamas leaders like Sinwar to leave Gaza as part of a cease-fire deal was floated, American officials said they thought it unlikely that Sinwar would agree. They cited Israel’s assassinations of Hamas leaders in foreign capitals and said they believed Sinwar would rather die fighting Israel than leave Gaza.
“I even believe that we will agree to build a safe passage for the main terrorist, the new Hitler, Sinwar — a safe passage for him and whoever he wants to join him in getting out of Gaza,” Hirsch told CNN earlier this month.
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This content was originally published in Israel presents proposal to Biden for exile of Hamas leader on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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