A senior Israeli official said on Saturday that negotiations over a ceasefire deal with Hamas have reached a dead end, with Israel unwilling to support a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.
The Israeli official made further comments blaming Hamas for the impasses, echoing the language of Israeli and US officials that “the ball is Hamas’s court” and that stopping the war is in their hands.
Despite this rhetoric, Israel has not accepted the ceasefire proposal announced by Biden in May, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating clearly that Israel does not support a permanent ceasefire.
Israel’s demand appears to be for Hamas to release all the hostages right now in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, while Biden’s proposal involved a phased release of hostages in exchange resulting in temporary ceasefires that would ultimately lead to a permanent truce.
Since Biden announced his peace proposal, Israel’s violence in Gaza has increased, with Tel Aviv carrying out several massacres, including two on Saturday that killed at least 42 Palestinians after Israel struck two residential areas of Gaza City.
It’s a bit hard to negotiate peace when both parties would rather die than stop attacking.
Hamas: Let’s have a permanent ceasefire
Israel: No we can bomb kill Palestinians infinitely with American bombs and barely risk our own lives
You: Nobody wants peace because they would rather die