Israeli media reported on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, that the official responsible for the prisoner file in the Israeli army, Nitsan Alon, has presented a new proposal for negotiations regarding a new deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. They stated that the new proposal does not include “a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”
According to Israeli Channel 13, the proposal was presented at a meeting of the Security Cabinet, and so far, only a few details about the proposal are known, but it does not involve a cessation of fighting in Gaza.
The newspaper reported that “after more than two weeks of stalemate in negotiations, the Defense establishment is trying to create a new attempt to resume negotiations with a new proposal.”
Only a few details about the proposal are known, and all security agencies support it, but it is known that it does not include an Israeli commitment to halt the fighting, a point that Hamas has insisted on in the past in a certain way.
For its part, the official Israeli broadcasting authority reported that the ministers of the war government would support a new proposal for releasing hostages. They said that the new proposal was drafted by the army’s hostage file officer and it includes resolving a point of contention with Hamas.
They also confirmed that Ministers Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid have asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the new proposal as soon as possible.
Egypt, Qatar, and the United States led indirect mediation between Hamas and Israel, which resulted in a ceasefire lasting until early December last year, while efforts to reach a new ceasefire stalled due to Israel’s control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on May 7.
The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza since October 7 last year has left more than 115,000 Palestinians dead or injured, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
