Hamas must be willing to extend the ceasefire, which actually ends after today, by four days. This is reported by AFP, which refers to anonymous sources close to Hamas. The release of women and children held hostage by Hamas will be decisive for whether there will be an extension. That’s what Reuters writes, citing Israeli authorities. During the ceasefire, vital emergency aid has reached the suffering civilian population in Gaza. Several prisoner exchanges have also taken place. Hamas has released 81 hostages, while Israel has released 180 imprisoned Palestinians. On the night of Wednesday, Israel received a list of several hostages that Hamas will release, on what is the last day of the ceasefire. In Qatar, international mediators will now work on extending the agreement, according to AFP. Senior researcher at PRIO, Jørgen Jensehaugen, thinks it is going well. The war will continue – It is still likely that the war will start again after the four days. Israel has been very clear that the main goal is to crush Hamas, says Jensehaugen and asserts: – You don’t do that by getting the hostages home, although that is also a goal. The incentives to wage war are still present for Israel. Jørgen Jensehaugen is a senior researcher at Prio, and has specialized in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photo: Høyskolen Innlandet Professor Hilde Henriksen Waage from UiO believes that pressure on Israel from the USA may be the only thing that can end the war. But not everyone in the Netanyahu coalition wants an end to the war. In the government, security minister Ben Gvir threatens to “tear the government apart” if the war does not continue. Is it only the United States and President Biden who can stop Israel and Netanyahu? Here during Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv, 18 October. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP Enormous friction Jensehaugen thinks it is unlikely that the Netanyahu government will collapse while the war continues. Part of the reason for that is that war has a very strong national unifying effect, he explains. Nevertheless, there are huge frictions in the government and in Israeli politics. – There is therefore a great possibility that the government coalition will collapse as soon as the war is over. Internally in Hamas, there seems to be agreement that an extension of the ceasefire is desirable. But there are uncertain cards, also on the Palestinian side. The radical militant group Islamic Holy War (also known as Islamic Jihad) is not directly connected to Hamas, and keeps several of the Israeli hostages under its control. Jensehaugen does not think they will act contrary to Hamas’s interests and jeopardize negotiations. Soldiers from Hamas and the Islamic Holy War deliver two Israeli hostages to the Red Cross at the Rafah border crossing, Tuesday. Photo: – / AFP – They are a group that is both allied with and in competition with Hamas. They have not interfered in the governance of Gaza, but they have participated militarily in the war. They have also respected the ceasefire, even though they were not part of the negotiations, says the researcher. He also points to the group’s willingness to coordinate the release of civilian hostages with Hamas. – But military hostages, Israeli soldiers, they probably have no plans to be released. In the ongoing negotiations, at least. This is the current agreement between Israel and Hamas. Hamas was to release 50 Israeli hostages. Israel was to release 150 imprisoned Palestinians. Emergency aid, food and fuel were to be allowed into Gaza. Israel also promised to stop drone surveillance of southern Gaza, among other things so that Hamas could retrieve the hostages without revealing their hiding places. So far, Hamas has released 60 Israelis and 21 hostages from other countries. Israel has released 180 Palestinian women and teenagers from prison. The vast majority are teenagers who are to blame for throwing stones and the like at Israeli forces. The agreement expires on Wednesday 29 November. Who has come out of the ceasefire the best? Jensehaugen thinks it is difficult to say whether it is Israel or Hamas that has benefited the most from the break. Experts news spoke to before the ceasefire was a fact, believed that both parties would be happy with the agreement, but that it was perhaps Hamas that would benefit the most from it. – The most important thing is that the civilian population has been given this much-needed break, and that humanitarian aid has arrived, says Jensehaugen. Whether it is Israel or Hamas that has come out the best from this break depends on what they have used it for. And that is information we do not have access to, he explains. Hilde Henriksen Waage is a professor at UiO. She specializes in the Middle East. Hilde Henriksen Waage is a researcher and historian at the University of Oslo, and specializes in the Middle East. Photo: Martin Tegnander / PRIO She thinks both Israel and Hamas will be fired with a further ceasefire. For various reasons. She believes that Israel is on fire with the ceasefire because it is very important for them to get the hostages home. For Hamas, she believes it is important to ensure the supply of emergency aid to the suffering civilian population. A truce ensures that both get what they want. Can the US sit on the solution? Jensehaugen believes, as mentioned, that the war will start again in four days. At the same time, the United States and President Biden have urged Israel to show greater precision and more consideration for civilians if they restart ground operations in Gaza. Waage thinks that is impossible. – I think the Americans are working hard behind the scenes to put pressure on Israel and get the war onto another, more peaceful track, she says. The professor further points out that the US has the tools needed to put a stop to the war. They have what she calls “muscles” for it. – Money and weapons. If those in Washington DC believe that Israel’s policies are harmful to American interests, and they stop the supply of money and weapons, Israel has historically listened. She further explains that Israel is completely dependent on American aid. – That is perhaps the only hope I have, she says. Jensehaugen is skeptical. He believes that the US has given Israel a blank mandate for so long that a rhetorical shift, such as what is now seen, is not enough to sway Israel. – But it can have a limiting effect.
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The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may be extended – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
