The chances of a phased hostage-cease fire deal between Israel and Hamas look ‘almost dead on paper.’ The Israeli negotiators are painting rather a ‘picture of despair’ with no new idea in the pipeline from the US.
Israeli officials say this position made the negotiations much more difficult until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he would not surrender on the retention of military authority over the Philadelphi Corridor, which borders Gaza and Egypt. One of the insiders mentioned that “there clearly wasn’t going to be a phase two” and that “they” needed to win the war and bring people to accept it.
After learning that six Israeli hostages were found dead in a Gaza tunnel, Netanyahu said he was sorry for the loss of lives, though he reestablished the stand on the same issue as he said, “Control of the Philadelphia Corridor makes it possible for hostages not to be taken out of Gaza. ”
Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s main opponent, denounced Netanyahu’s approach as seeking a “forever war” for political purposes. He said that with such a strategy, one can look forward to numerous years of fighting and a largely unstable economic outlook. At the same time, investigations of the Hamas attack on October 7 are alleged to be being stalked by Netanyahu himself and military officials.
