As Netanyahu hedges, Hamas' Sinwar undecided between deal or regional war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived closer to the moment of truth where he must decide for or against a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas and a cease-fire in Gaza.
TEL AVIV — Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Israel Tuesday for Egypt and Qatar to report on Benjamin Netanyahu's acceptance of a US proposal that bridges the remaining differences over a hostage-for-cease-fire deal with Hamas, but it is not at all certain that the Israeli prime minister indeed intends to go along with all the compromises put forward by the Biden administration.
Although Blinken described the proposal formulated by the US and its fellow negotiators in Cairo and Doha as “probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity” for such an agreement, its prospects remain unclear.
“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it,” Blinken told reporters on Monday. “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.”
Nonetheless, various Netanyahu aides spent the day dampening expectations and insisting that the prime minister does not intend to compromise on his positions. Chief among them, according to his aides, is Israel’s insistence on maintaining a presence along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, which has for years served as a conduit for smuggling weapons and goods into the besieged enclave.
