They had 48 hours to give their response to the truce plan presented to them on Sunday by mediators. However, due to the strong pressures they receive, neither side, neither Israel nor Hamas, wants to leave the negotiating table first.

The plan presented in Cairo by the US, Egypt and Qatar calls for a six-week ceasefire, an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, an increase in humanitarian aid entering the Palestinian enclave and the return of residents of northern Gaza to their homes. , according to a Hamas source.

In the long term, it foresees the release of all hostages, as well as an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. It also foresees the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and the lifting of the siege that has been imposed since 2007 and the assumption of power in the enclave by Hamas.

Since Sunday, unofficial announcements, often contradictory, follow one another. For Hasni Abidi, of the Center for Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva, “the negotiators are at an impasse.” However, no one has left the negotiating table.

“Hamas is considering the proposal,” the Hamas spokesman reiterated yesterday.

At the heart of the demands of the Palestinian Islamist movement is a permanent ceasefire. A request not accepted at this stage by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is standing in the way citing the goal of “wiping out” the Hamas battalions, which he claims are concentrated in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip where they have taken refuge 1 .5 million Palestinian internal refugees.

The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has assured that the death of his three sons in an Israeli raid in Gaza yesterday will not change the demands of the organization.

Although trust between the two camps is nil, they are bound to produce a result, according to analysts. The world is watching them, their populations are at their limits.

Regular truce

With 260 Israeli soldiers dead, hundreds wounded, Israeli forces depleted and the constant need to replace units, the Israeli side is interested in implementing a tactical ceasefire, according to analysts.

The withdrawal of forces announced Sunday with the exception of one brigade stationed in the central sector indicates Israel is resting troops ahead of the Rafah assault, according to Daniel Baiman of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Increasingly isolated due to the high civilian death toll in Gaza and the blockage of the flow of humanitarian aid that has brought the enclave’s residents to the brink of starvation, Israel must show a better face abroad. Mainly against its main ally, the US, which has failed in its efforts to force Israel to change its strategy, according to Hasni Abidi.

While Washington is trying to avoid escalation in LebanonSyria and Iran, the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week risks unraveling this Washington strategy, according to the analyst.

In the first phase, US President Joe Biden threatened to link US support to Israel with Israeli restraint in the military sector and the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Yesterday, in the face of Iran’s threats of a punitive strike against Israel, Joe Biden reiterated that his support for Israel is “unwavering.”

Iran “is threatening to launch a major attack against Israel…As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security in the face of these threats from Iran and its allies is unwavering,” the US president said.

But the Netanyahu government is also facing the wrath of the families who are demanding the return of the 129 hostages held in Gaza.

Personal matter

On the other hand, a truce deal could break up the Israeli governing coalition. Its far-right components are opposed to any concession to Hamas. “And that’s a real dilemma for someone like Netanyahu who is not known for putting the interests of his country before his political ambitions,” comments Daniel Bayman.

Finally, the Israeli prime minister has turned this military campaign into a “personal matter”. “I don’t see how Netanyahu could claim victory if no core Hamas leader has been arrested or killed,” comments Hasni Abidi.

Starting with Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, who is believed to have masterminded the October 7 attack.

For Hamas, the implementation of a ceasefire would, on the contrary, be a symbolic victory. It would also allow it to “reorganize and launch attacks against the army,” according to Omer Dostri of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).

“The goal of Hamas is to regain its breath in the hope that international pressure will end up bringing an end to the war,” he says.

For Hasni Abidi, a truce would improve Hamas’s image with the population of Gaza. Although Netanyahu promises a future without Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist movement “seeks to repair its image and prepare for the post-war era.”