Above photo: Since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, millions of people across the world have demanded an immediate ceasefire. PSL Columbus.
Analysts voiced their “cautious optimism” regarding the progress of the talks.
Which have been marked by procrastination and the exchange of recriminations for 14 months.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced on December 6 that it has accepted an Egyptian proposal to form a joint Palestinian social support committee to govern the Gaza Strip after the Israeli genocidal aggression on the besieged enclave ends.
The announcement came after Hamas held in-depth talks in Cairo with the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), which leads the Palestinian Authority. The talks centered around implementing previously agreed-upon frameworks to achieve Palestinian unity. “Hamas conveyed its approval of an Egyptian proposal for forming a community support committee that will function through inclusive national mechanisms,” the movement said in a statement.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Monday, December 2 that the proposal suggested bringing Gaza under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, it seems that further discussions paid off in recreating affinity between Hamas and Fatah.
The announced proposal promises a long awaited unity, which has been fragmented since 2007 over a power struggle that resulted in Hamas governing the Gaza Strip and the PA governing parts of the occupied West Bank.
Hamas also stated that it held extensive talks with other Palestinian factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), regarding the developments in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As Hamas unveiled the proposal, Qatar reportedly resumed its mediation of Gaza ceasefire talks after a brief suspension announced in November. The upcoming US administration also seems determined to speed up the ceasefire talks. According to a US official, the President-elect Donald Trump dispatched his incoming “Middle East” envoy Steve Witkoff to hold high-level talks on Gaza’s ceasefire and captives-for-prisoners swap deal in recent weeks.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz expressed optimism on Wednesday, December 4 on the possibility of securing a swap, as reports said an Israeli delegation was set to visit Cairo on Thursday for talks. Katz claimed that the progress in the talks are attributed to the intensity of the pressure on Hamas.
Families of Israeli captives increase pressure on Netanyahu
However, analysts suggest that the progress also resulted from the pressure exerted on Netanyahu’s government from within Israel, especially by the captives’ families. This pressure is believed to have mounted after the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claimed on Wednesday that an airstrike launched by Israeli warplanes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza in February may have led Hamas fighters to kill six captives. The bodies of the captives were recovered by the IOF in August, who then claimed that all of them were shot without confirming that the shooting could be the cause of their death.
The IOF used vague and confusing language in its announcement about the killed captives to distance itself from responsibility, and to hold Hamas accountable instead. “It is highly probable that their deaths were related to the strike near the location where they were held. According to the most plausible scenario, the terrorists shot the hostages close to the time of the strike. However, it is also possible that the hostages were shot by other terrorists post-mortem; it is even possible that the hostages were killed prior to the strike in the area,” the IOF said.
IOF’s announcement came two days after Hamas released a video of the first official death toll of Israeli captives in Gaza, indicating that the majority of those captives were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum commented on IOF’s announcement by saying, “The investigation is yet more evidence that military pressure leads to the killing of hostages.”
Pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been growing, as he is set to testify before the Tel Aviv District Court as of next Tuesday over charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. It is believed that Netanyahu became a bit more flexible regarding the ceasefire and captives-for-prisoners swap deal just to accomplish any achievement before he is sentenced.
The genocide continues
As ceasefire talks have been underway, Israel continued to strike civilians in Gaza mercilessly. At least four staff of the Kamal Adwan Hospital were killed in Israeli airstrikes that targeted the hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Friday December 6.
One day earlier, a 16-year-old boy, who used a wheelchair, was killed, and several others wounded in an Israeli drone attack that targeted the same hospital, according to the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital Hussam Abu Safieh.
Other massacres were committed by IOF on Thursday, killing dozens of people. At least 21 people, including children and women, were killed in an attack that set ablaze tents sheltering displaced people in the makeshift shelters in Al-Mawasi area, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Deadly airstrikes also hit Gaza City, and Al-Shujayaa neighborhood in the southern part of the city separately, alongside Rafah near the border with Egypt, killing several.