Gaza mediators, with an eye on the long term, press for a short extension of the truce

Top officials from Qatar, Egypt and the United States on Wednesday urged another temporary extension of the Gaza Strip ceasefire, seeing it as the best way to ease the humanitarian crisis in the disputed territory and secure the release of secure more Israeli prisoners. and delay the escalating death toll of the war just a little longer.

But some officials briefed on the talks said they also hoped the series of short-term pauses would pave the way to a bigger goal: negotiating a longer-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the war .

Amid international pressure to extend the lull in fighting, Israeli leaders outright rejected the idea of ​​a long-term ceasefire and reiterated their pledge to keep fighting until Hamas and its leaders are eliminated.

“In recent days I have heard a question: After completing this phase of the return of our hostages, will Israel return to the fight? My answer is an unequivocal yes,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday. “There is no situation where we won’t fight to the end.”

Many bloody weeks have passed since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and trapping some 240 others in Gaza. Israel has responded with a massive air campaign and a ground invasion, killing more than 14,000 people in Gaza.

But there has been relative peace for the past six days. Both sides have largely held back fire to allow for a daily exchange of hostages from Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Israeli prisons, along with the access of more aid to Gaza.

According to figures from the New York Times, Hamas had released at least 85 hostages on Tuesday, mostly women and children, and Israel had freed 180 women and Palestinian teenagers. A new exchange began on Wednesday evening, with another sixteen hostages released in Gaza.

The Israeli military said two released hostages were returned to Israel via Egypt late Wednesday, but it did not immediately identify them.

As the clock runs down to the current ceasefire, officials from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have met with Israeli officials and worked to secure an agreement for an additional ceasefire and more exchanges lest the war resume when the latest agreement would be concluded. ends early Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who was scheduled to travel to Israel on Thursday, said the Biden administration wanted to continue the ceasefire because it “means more hostages will come home and more aid will come in.”

“It’s clear that’s what we want,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday. “I believe it is also something that Israel wants. They are also intensely focused on bringing their people home.”

Two people with knowledge of the Qatar talks said that while the mediators pushed for another short-term extension, they also hoped that continued exchanges would keep the war on pause for as long as possible.

One of those people also said that mediators expect that the longer the silence lasts, the harder it will be for Israel to resume its offensive and expand into southern Gaza, where senior Hamas leaders are believed to be hiding.

A major Israeli offensive in the south of the Palestinian enclave could be catastrophic for Gaza’s citizens. More than half of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced, with most of them moving south at the behest of the Israeli army.

Securing a longer-term ceasefire faces many obstacles. The daily returns of hostages to Israel and Palestinian prisoners to their communities have been intensely emotional events for those on both sides of the conflict. But until now, these exchanges have focused on Israeli citizens held in Gaza, and on women and minors held in Israeli prisons, many of whom had not been convicted of any crime.

Negotiations are likely to become more complicated once Israel and Hamas begin discussing the release of fighters.

Hamas captured several dozen Israeli soldiers during its rampage through southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli officials. And Israel holds many high-profile Palestinian prisoners, including prominent members of Hamas and other militant factions convicted of serious crimes and whose release the group has pledged to pursue.

The price that both sides expect each other to pay to secure the release of their fighters will likely be much higher than it has been for the women and minors, a dynamic that one person briefed on the talks has signaled a change mentioned in the ‘political situation’. exchange rate.”

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that 97 women and children from Israel have been taken hostage, and that if the release goes as planned on Wednesday, 70 of them will have been released. Israel is negotiating an extension of the ceasefire and the release of the remaining 27, the official said.

But Israel has not been involved in talks on a long-term ceasefire or an exchange involving all remaining hostages and prisoners, the official said.

In a telephone interview, Hamas Politburo member Zaher Jabareen said the group was still working with mediators to extend the ceasefire.

Hamas is willing to continue exchanging captured women and children, he said, but it will ask for much more in negotiations for captured Israeli soldiers as part of its goal to free all Palestinian prisoners.

“We must end this issue forever,” he said.

In Israel, Mr. Netanyahu is facing intense pressure not to give up on Hamas, including from some right-wing members of his own government. On Wednesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that if Israel did not continue its war with Hamas, its political faction would leave the governing coalition, weakening Netanyahu’s grip on power.

“Stopping the war = the collapse of the government,” Mr. Ben-Gvir said in a statement.

Mr Ben-Gvir’s departure alone would not topple the government, but it would give Mr Netanyahu only a very slim majority.

Adding to Israel’s anguish over the hostages is growing concern over the fate of the Bibas family, a mother and her two young children captured on October 7 who have become symbols for the country.

On Wednesday, Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement that an Israeli airstrike had killed all three: Shiri Bibas, 32; Ariel Bibas, 4; and Kfir Bibas, 10 months old.

Israeli officials said they were assessing the veracity of the claim. Other members of the Bibas family said in a statement that they hoped it would be “refuted by military officials” and thanked the Israeli public for their support.

The rising death toll and growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza have also made the talks more urgent. Most Gazans spend their days searching for food, water and other essentials, and the massive destruction caused by the Israeli offensive means that many of the displaced will have no homes to return to after the war is over.

Many Gazans have taken advantage of the relative calm of the past six days to stock up on supplies. Long lines snaked out of gas stations in southern Gaza this week, and merchants in Gaza City set up food stalls among piles of rubble.

Residents say they often wait hours for simple goods such as bread, and they fear their lives will become even more difficult if the war resumes.

On Wednesday, President Biden appeared to temper his strong embrace of Israel by suggesting that renewed fighting would benefit Hamas.

“Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace,” Mr Biden said in a message on X, formerly Twitter. “To continue on the path of terror, violence, murder and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.”

Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting from Jerusalem, Sheera Frenkel And Talya Minsberg from Tel Aviv, and Shawn Paik from Seoul.