Reports have found that it is Israel that won’t agree to the ceasefire deal’s framework, despite Blinken’s claims.
Following the UN Security Council vote to approve a three-phase ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. officials and other international allies of Israel are cynically placing blame on Hamas for a stall in current ceasefire negotiations — even as Israel has insisted on indefinitely continuing its massacre in Gaza and Hamas has said its main request is a guarantee that Israel would actually honor the ceasefire.
But reports from a wide variety of news sources on how both Israel and Hamas are approaching the ceasefire proposal suggest that Blinken is lying about which party is accepting of the deal. Indeed, reports have found that it is actually Israel that won’t agree to the deal’s framework: an immediate ceasefire with a limited prisoner and hostage exchange, then a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and ultimately the reconstruction of Gaza and return of Palestinians to their homes.
Israel’s insistence on continuing its genocide has been consistent throughout the last eight months, including in reaction to the most recent ceasefire proposals of the past weeks. Officials have said Israel will only stop bombarding Gaza when they decide that Hamas has been eliminated and Palestinians there no longer pose a threat to Israel — a pledge that requires the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians, as military procedures and Israel’s own public statements have shown.
But the main demand from Hamas appears to be straightforward, according to other officials familiar with the negotiations. Multiple outlets citing such sources have echoed what Hamas officials have said: that they are primarily concerned with getting guarantees from the U.S. and Israel that the deal will actually lead to a ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza.
Specifically, Hamas is concerned about a lack of assurances from the current proposal about the transition between the first and second phases of the plan, Reuters reports, citing multiple sources involved with the talks. The first phase involves a six-week ceasefire, with the release of some Israeli hostages, while the second phase calls for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli troop withdrawal.
Hamas isn't accepting the ceasefire. No matter how hard Hamas sympathizers try to spin it, Hamas is dragging this out and Palestinians are dying because of it.
Apparently when the UN security council makes a binding resolution, only Israel has to follow it and Hamas doesn't. And everyone will make continue to make excuses for why it's fine for Hamas to ignore the UN.
How much longer will Hamas continue to hold on to the hostages (which is a war crime) and continue the conflict that's killing Palestinians before people realize that the group that massacred over a thousand people in a day might not be the good guy freedom fighters that TikTok says they are?
Israel kills tens of thousands of innocent civilians, makes many more homeless refugees, destroys every piece of civil infrastructure, does not allow for food to enter into the region at a scale necessary to avert famine...
But it's Hamas fault for not trusting Israel for a deal
Unlike Hamas, Israel actually cares about it's people. The IDF exists to protect the Israeli people. At the moment there are Israeli people being held against their will in Gaza. So the IDF is in Gaza.
Hamas indeed made this happen by taking hostages. Hamas can end this conflict by releasing the hostages. Hamas isn't releasing the hostages because they want the conflict to continue.