President Joe Biden’s hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza are slipping further out of grasp amid new demands from Hamas, The Washington Post reported.
The months-long drive to get a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas — and secure the release of American hostages in Gaza — has hit several obstacles, mostly related to terms that neither side has been able to agree to. With the prospects of a ceasefire deal already looking dim, Hamas’ new demands for terms in a possible deal has thrown the Biden administration’s plans off balance, and officials are starting to worry that a ceasefire may not even be doable, the Post reported.
The administration, which has put forward or endorsed several ceasefire proposals already, has recently been planning to make a new “take it or leave it” proposal that included provisions to help close the gap between Israel and Hamas’ demands for a deal, according to the Post. But the administration is indefinitely delaying presenting the proposal after Hamas recently announced it wanted a deal to include the release of more Palestinian prisoners higher than the number agreed to.
“Just because there isn’t an alternative doesn’t mean this strategy is working,” Ivo Daalder, a former ambassador to NATO, told the Post of the administration’s efforts to get a deal done. “The amount of talent we’ve deployed to get where we are, which is nowhere, is really remarkable, and at some point you need to decide it doesn’t work.”
Some of Biden’s advisers want him to put more pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get a deal done, according to the Post. The question of whether to publicly call out Netanyahu to secure a deal is being debated inside the White House, though it’s unlikely such a move would be carried out, according to several people familiar with discussions who spoke to the Post.
Netanyahu has found himself in a difficult situation where he has to decide whether to end the war over humanitarian concerns or keep it going to more thoroughly cripple Hamas. Hundreds of thousands of people inside Israel reportedly protested Netanyahu last week for refusing to agree to a full-scale ceasefire, following revelations that six hostages, including one American, were recently killed by Hamas in Gaza.
Making matters more complicated is that Hamas has been stubborn in negotiations and made seemingly unreasonable demands for a deal, which have often derailed possible tracks to a ceasefire. Hamas’ latest demand follows a string of rejections the terror group has made of various proposals.
Behind closed doors, U.S. officials are reportedly starting to become concerned that Hamas may be impossible to negotiate with and will never agree to a ceasefire deal, given the group’s actions in killing six of the hostages.
The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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