Israeli media not optimistic about ‘imminent’ Gaza ceasefire

As reports continue to emerge of a possible breakthrough in the Gaza ceasefire talks, some Israeli media outlets seem to have downplayed the chances that a deal is near.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said an agreement was “closer than ever before,” while a high-ranking US senior official said the possibility of reaching a deal was “only a matter of time,” according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

But another Israeli official, whom the Israeli newspaper did not name, said things were yet to mature, pointing out “big gaps” preventing the deal from happening soon, contrary to more positive reports that have suggested a deal was imminent.

“It is likely that senior officials will have to go to Cairo to complete the deal, while Hamas representatives will be in another room. In the meantime, there is a lot of inaccurate information reaching the media,” the official said.

But the source did say mediators were hoping to reach a deal during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah between 25 December and 2 January, and US President-Elect Donald Trump’s 20 January inauguration.

Egypt, Qatar and the US are all trying to mediate a deal between Hamas and Israel to end the conflict, which has been going on for over a year and has killed over 45,000 Palestinians. 

Talks to end the war have repeatedly failed, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies refuse any agreement.

The only pause in the fighting happened in November last year and lasted one week.

Other sources have echoed the pessimistic tone regarding sealing a deal soon amid.

The “dramatic reports” published earlier this week suggesting a deal was close are “exaggerated and overly optimistic,” a Palestinian official close to the matter told the Israeli Kan broadcaster.

“There is still a long way to go before an agreement can be announced, and the talks between the sides are continuing intensively,” the official said.

The Israeli Walla news site said an agreement is not expected in the immediate future, as it cited Israeli officials, who claimed that Hamas’ stance “complicates progress, as the organisation demands that any deal must lead to the end of the war”.

Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea is in expected in Cairo on Wednesday to continue talks. Egypt however has denied speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Cairo this week.

Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, were slapped with arrest warrants last month by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

What would the deal entail?

A ceasefire agreement would see a cessation of hostilities and Hamas release some captives taken on 7 October 2023 in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Tel Aviv says around 100 captives remain held in Gaza, some of them dead, while thousands of Palestinians are in Israeli detention.

Some of the key issues are the number of captives and prisoners expected to be released, as well as Israel’s military presence in Gaza.

Reports in recent weeks suggested that Hamas was willing to drop its key demand of seeing Israeli forces pull out of Gaza. Israel has insisted on maintaining security control in Gaza after the war “indefinitely”, refusing to allow Hamas to govern the territory again.

Israel’s Ynetnews.com website reported that the first phase of the potential deal will include a six-week truce and the partial release of elderly, women, and sick Israeli captives as well as the return of dead captives’ bodies.

In this period, the deal’s second phase will be discussed, which could see male Israeli captives released. This second phase is also supposed to see Israel release a “very large number” of Palestinian detainees.

Palestinians in Gaza will reportedly be allowed to return to the north, as per the ceasefire proposal, though many will have no homes to go back to following Israel’s scorched-earth assault on the area.

Smotrich slams negotiations

Israel’s extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has opposed any swap deal with Hamas. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – another extremist and settler living in the occupied West Bank – has also come out against any agreement.

“This is not the time to give Hamas a lifeline,” Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party, told the Israeli radio station Kol BaRama on Wednesday.

“This is the right time to continue crushing it [Hamas] and putting pressure on it until it returns the captives, but in a deal where it surrenders and not in the deal where we surrender,” he said.

Smotrich said releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, pulling out of the northern Gaza Strip and allowing a million Gazans to return to their homes will “eliminate the achievements” Israel has made. “This is a grave mistake,” he said.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have often exerted massive pressure on Netanyahu and his cabinet during negotiations with Hamas, threatening to resign and collapsing his government.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks continued on the Gaza Strip, much of which has been decimated in the war practically all of its 2.3 million people displaced.

At least four people were killed on a Wednesday morning in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, which has seen a ruthless Israeli campaign since early October this year. The army has continued to demolish homes and other buildings, wiping out entire towns in the area and emptying them of their civilian population.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s offensive, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health authorities.