Hopes for a temporary pause in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza were rekindled towards the end of last week, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising good news for the families of the hostages.
However, Netanyahu, widely blamed in diplomatic circles for blocking every mediation attempt to agree a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas during the past eight weeks, was not clear in his statement about a new ceasefire deal after Israel violated the truce agreement that went into effect for only two months in January this year.
Speaking on Arabic satellite TV channels, Israeli commentators sounded sceptical about whether Netanyahu was talking about a ceasefire deal or about a more aggressive military offensive against Gaza that could lead to the forced liberation of the Israeli hostages that remain in captivity.
In statements made earlier this month, Netanyahu said there are around 20 Israeli hostages who are still alive in Gaza, while the remaining 30 plus are assumed by Israel to be dead.
Netanyahu spoke on Monday evening from a tunnel under Jerusalem shortly after the Israeli far-right held a march in the city to mark the complete Israeli occupation of the city and with radical Israeli Cabinet Minister Itmar Ben Gvir violating the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Netanyahu’s statement on the release of the hostages came amid conflicting reports on whether Israel and Hamas had agreed on a new proposal put together by US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
The core of the proposed deal is a two-month, or slightly more, suspension of hostilities; Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza; the release of fewer than 10 Israeli hostages; the handover of 10 bodies; the intensive entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza; and the release of a few hundred Palestinian prisoners.
According to an informed Egyptian source who has moved over recent weeks between hope and frustration, the deal has been in the making but is still not certain.
A source close to Hamas offices in Cairo said that the ceasefire was waiting for the Israeli approval of a plan that Hamas had discussed with the US through a backchannel.
According to senior military analyst Major General Wael Rabaei, with or without a ceasefire deal that could be for 60 or 70 days but last for much less, Netanyahu will continue with his plan to destroy Gaza and expel the largest possible number of Gazans.
Netanyahu has been restricting the Palestinians to the Al-Mawassi zone in the southern part of Gaza not far from the coast, he said. “I think we are looking at a horror scenario in which Netanyahu will continue to make life impossible for the Palestinians,” he added, both by continued military strikes and food deprivation. The idea is to force them to pursue an exit across the Mediterranean.
According to a UN source who works on Gaza, “Netanyahu says he wants to eliminate Hamas, but in reality he just wants to eliminate the Palestinians.”
“There are signs that the Israeli military operation is deliberately targeting women and men at the reproductive age and the reproductive health sector and that the attacks against younger Palestinians are designed to cripple and impair them,” he added.
On Tuesday, there were still few signs that an aid operation that was supposed to distribute food for Gazans was picking up. Shortly before the Monday date set for the launch of the operation, Jake Wood, head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, resigned over allegations of the lack of impartiality of the operation.
“There are big question marks over the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” said the UN source, adding that the UN is opposed to the intervention of the Israeli military in the food distribution process.
Earlier this month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned of the “imminent risk of famine” for Gazans. A deal between the US and Israel then allowed for the operation of an American company to distribute aid in Gaza under the military observation and supervision of Israel.
Hamas said that the operation was an intelligence trap and pleaded for Gazans to stay away from the distribution points which are pocketed within Israeli military positions.
The UN warned that the food distribution mechanism could end up dividing families, with only a few members going to one of the designated four hubs, three of which are in the south, with uncertain chances of returning.
“We have seen families being cut off for many reasons since the beginning of the war, but this time it could be engineered,” the same UN source said. “We have seen many horrors since this war started, and I am afraid there is more horror to come.”
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world is seeing “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza. He denounced Israel for allowing only “a teaspoon of aid” into Gaza when “a flood of assistance is required.”
The debate over the modalities and pace of the aid distribution and the chances for a ceasefire was unfolding as the Spanish capital Madrid hosted a conference for 20 Arab and European states to discuss the current situation on the ground in Gaza and the future of the Palestinian question.
In a statement ahead of the meeting, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said that it was designed to “stop this unjust, cruel, and inhumane war by Israel,” “to break the blockade on humanitarian aid,” and “to move towards a two-state solution”.
Spain, along with several other European countries including France, also a permanent member of the UN Security Council, said that they are set to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state in the near future. The Israeli press said that the government of Israel had passed a message to the capitals concerned announcing its intention to annex Area C territories in the West Bank in reaction to such a step.
An Egyptian diplomatic source said this week that “there are more than enough signs” that the Netanyahu government is acting to annex territory from the Palestinian Authority (PA)-managed zones of the West Bank. This week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the time has come to expand the borders of “Greater Israel”.
“The situation on the ground is [devastating]. There is no denying that, and it could get much worse, but we still have to find a diplomatic path to deny Netanyahu his ultimate goal of liquidating the Palestinian question once and for all,” said head of the Arab League mission to UN headquarters in New York Maged Abdel-Fattah.
According to Abdel-Fattah, pushing for the two-state solution is one way to keep the Palestinian question alive against the Israeli plans.
On 17 May, preparations kicked off in the UN General Assembly to pave the way for the June Conference of the Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution, which was initiated in autumn last year.
The preparatory work is being conducted by eight committees covering matters relating to security arrangements for both Israelis and Palestinians, the economic viability of a Palestinian state, and humanitarian action and reconstruction.
According to Abdel-Fattah, the UN General Assembly is to adopt the relevant procedural rules, and the meeting is happening in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the war on Gaza. “The logic of power on the ground is very clear, but we have to keep an eye on our objective: the two-state solution,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday a UN Security Council meeting was scheduled to discuss the situation on the ground in Gaza at the request of Algeria, the current non-permanent Arab member. The request was tabled on 2 April and covers developments both in Gaza and the West Bank.
Abdel-Fattah was not optimistic on the possible outcome of the meeting. Despite the reports of tension between Trump and Netanyahu, the US would still support Israel in the Security Council, he said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 29 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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