The Israeli negotiating delegation met this Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of a new round of talks in Doha (Qatar) to seek an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza, to which Hamas said it will not attend.
On the Israeli side, a team headed by the head of the Israeli foreign intelligence service will leave for the meeting called by the mediators - the United States, Egypt and Qatar -Mossad-, David Barnea; his counterpart in the internal service –Shin Bet-, Ronen Bar; and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, who is overseeing the talks on behalf of the IDF.
Although Hamas refused to appear at the meeting, the media Walla acknowledged, citing sources close to the process, that the terrorists would be willing to meet with the mediators afterwards to receive an update on what was discussed.
The parties, in the absence of Hamas, will seek in Doha to move towards a ceasefire agreement that allows an exchange of Israeli hostages for imprisoned Palestinian terrorists on the proposal presented by the United States at the end of May, in a process that will last "for several days", as predicted by the American mediator for the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, Amos Hochstein.
This last month, Netanyahu and Hamas have maintained a constant exchange of accusations over the amendments introduced to the original proposal.
The Israeli president yesterday blamed the terrorists for having demanded 29 changes to the proposal - which he did not specify -, while they reproached him for having introduced two new demands in the meeting that the Israeli delegation held with the mediators in Rome, at the end of July. .
These demands include implementing an Israeli control mechanism in the Netzarim corridor - which has divided the north and south of Gaza since the beginning of the war - to guarantee that terrorists do not gather again in the north, and to ensure the presence of the Army in the Philadelphia corridor - Gaza's border with Egypt - to prevent weapons smuggling.
Netanyahu assured that they are "clarifications" regarding the original proposal, and not new demands.
The growing tension in the Middle East due to the threat of an imminent attack by Iran against Israel, which raises fears of a regional escalation, is leading more and more countries to increase the intensity of their demands to achieve a ceasefire in Doha.
This Wednesday, the ambassadors to Israel from the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom asked that the meeting to relaunch the negotiations end with an agreement, which they described as "urgent."
The agreement would open "a path to talks to provide a diplomatic solution in the north," in reference to the daily exchange of rockets between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese group allied with Iran, the US ambassador to Israel said at a press conference from Tel Aviv. , Jack Lew.
US President Joe Biden has already announced that he hopes a truce in Gaza will deter the Islamic Republic from attacking Israel.
Mediator Hochstein, from Beirut, also considered that a ceasefire in the Strip could also help avoid a regional war. as well as to end the parallel conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Paula Bernabéu of Efe contributed to this Aurora article.
Everything is given to close at any cost
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