Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned to Israel on Friday after a four-day visit to the US but, despite two meetings with US president Donald Trump, there was no breakthrough in efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Proximity talks between Israel and Hamas are continuing in Doha and both Israeli and US officials have expressed optimism that an agreement may be reached within days.
The principal issue holding up agreement appears to be Israel’s insistence on holding on to the Morag corridor during an initial 60-day ceasefire. The corridor runs from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean coast, dividing Rafah on the Egyptian border from Khan Younis.
US envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly told Israeli officials that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) redeployment map, which leaves a contiguous Israeli presence across broad swathes of the Gaza Strip, would be deemed unacceptable by the Trump administration.
READ MORE
Hamas demands a complete Israeli withdrawal from the corridor before it will agree to a ceasefire. It has rejected an updated map, presented by Israel in recent days, outlining a gradual troop withdrawal linked to progress in negotiations to end the war.
“We cannot accept the perpetuation of the occupation of our land and the surrender of our people to isolated enclaves under the control of the occupation army,” senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said. “This is what the negotiating delegation is presenting in the current round of negotiations in Doha.”
The strategic value of the corridor is questionable and the IDF is not insisting on maintaining troops there.
However, Mr Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition partners plan to construct what they term a “refugee” or “humanitarian” city on Rafah’s ruins to house hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, keeping alive the prospect of mass emigration of Gazans from the besieged enclave.
Sixteen Israeli experts in international law and the laws of war have warned that the defence establishment plans to concentrate the population of Gaza in a “humanitarian city” constitute a blatantly illegal order.
In a letter on Friday to defence minister Yisrael Katz and IDF chief of staff Ltn Gen Eyal Zamir, the experts warned that implementation of the plan would constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity, claiming that under certain conditions, it could also be considered genocide.
[ Irish physiotherapist in Gaza: ‘Nobody is safe, there’s no end in sight’Opens in new window ]
“We call on all relevant parties to publicly withdraw from the plan, renounce it and refrain from carrying it out,” they wrote.
The leaders of the two far-right parties in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition warned against any compromise over the Rafah humanitarian city plan. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist party, said such a move would constitute a “slap in the face”.
“If the reports about the prime minister’s willingness to withdraw in the context of a hostage deal from areas that were conquered by our troops at a high price are true, that would be turning our backs painfully on the soldiers and the families that have sacrificed the most precious thing of all and a violation of the pledge we made to them.”
National security minister Itamar Ben- Gvir, head of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength) went further, arguing that peace negotiations merely encourage Hamas to step up its attacks. “The more intense the negotiations for a reckless deal become, the greater the motivation felt by Hamas terrorists to carry out more kidnappings,” he said. “Mr prime minister, stop negotiating with a murderous terrorist organisation and stop trying to reach a deal that will revive and strengthen it. Give the order to crush Hamas fully.”
