Israel and Hamas may be able to reach a cease-fire and hostage-release-deal within one or two weeks, but it is unlikely that such an agreement will be protected the next day, said a senior Israeli official on Wednesday.
During the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, the civil servant said that if the two parties agree with a proposed cease-fire of 60 days, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent cease-fire that would require the Palestinian militant group to disarm.
If Hamas refuses: “We will continue” with military operations in Gaza, said the civil servant, who spoke with the Reuters news agency on the condition of anonymity.
US President Donald Trump met Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation in Gaza, whereby Trump’s Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff indicates that Israel and Hamas were approaching an agreement on a Vuren proposal concluded in the US after 21 months of war.
Trump had previously predicted that by the end of this week a deal could be reached, which increases speculation about a possible announcement before Netanyahu leaves for Israel on Thursday.
On Wednesday, however, Trump seemed to extend the time frame and to tell reporters that although an agreement was “very close”, it could happen this week or even the next, although “not sure”.
A source that was familiar with Hamas’s thinking, said that four days of indirect conversations with Israel in Qatar did not produce breakthroughs on the main stick points.
The Israeli official, who informed reporters in Washington, refused to provide details about the negotiations.
Witkoff told reporters during an American cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the expected agreement would include the release of 10 living and nine dead hostages.
Trump and his assistants have tried to grab at any momentum created by the weakening of Iran, that supports Hamas, to push both parties for a breakthrough to end the Gaza war.
Almost two years of war
The Gaza conflict started when Hamas attacked South Israel in October 2023, according to the Israeli figures, killed around 1200 people and took 251 hostages. About 50 hostages remain in Gaza, of which 20 are supposed to live.
Israel’s retaliation war has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, says the Ministry of Health of Gaza, and has reduced a large part of the enclave to debris.
Netanyahu used his American visit to publicly thank Trump for merging with Israel in hitting Iran.
#Gaza #Armistice #weeks #Israeli #official