Hamas Rejects Israeli Offer For 7-Day Truce As Reported Gaza Death Toll Reaches 20,000

Over the last several days there was a flurry of diplomatic activity in Doha and Cairo, as both Israel and the US seemed serious about negotiating another week-long truce. Indeed, the Netanyahu government reportedly offered a ceasefire for seven days and wanted in return 40 more Israeli captives freed. Presumably dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention would have been exchanged too.

There were reasons for optimism, given CIA director Bill Burns and Mossad chief David Barnea were in the Qatari capital early this week, while head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, led a “high level” delegation in Cairo. Inside Israel, kidnap victims’ families have been staging round the clock protests outside government ministries and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office demanding that a new deal be achieved. 

But Haniyeh while in Cairo appeared to put the brakes on such a deal, rejecting the offer while saying Israel’s military must halt its offensive first. Egyptian officials have been cited in The Wall Street Journal as saying the group “wouldn’t discuss releasing their Israeli captives until a cease-fire first goes into effect.”

In this instance, the deal was for the first time to include the release of captives being held by Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). There’s an estimated 130 Israeli and foreign captives that remain. According to details of what was on the table, via WSJ:

In the offer rejected by Hamas, Israel sought the release of 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children and elderly male hostages who need urgent medical treatment, the Egyptian officials said. In return, the Israeli military would pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the enclave, the Egyptian officials said.

The officials said the Hamas rejection didn’t represent a failure in the negotiations, but rather an effort to pressure Israel to offer more concessions.

Thus the negotiations don’t appear completely dead. Netanyahu is under immense domestic and international pressure to free more captives, though he has hawks in his governing coalition that simply want to pursue a total ‘scorched earth’ policy over the Gaza Strip first.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that a new deal for the return of captives is “something we’d very much like to see happen.” There are some eight Americans among those still held hostage.

Netanyahu has said, “I will spare no effort on this, and the demand is to bring everyone.” But he has continually vowed to not let up in pursuing the total destruction of Hamas. The IDF has meanwhile announced it has gained ‘operational hold over the key Shejaiya area of Gaza, where some of the most intense battles played out for weeks.

Both sides have continued to publish harrowing scenes of close-quarter urban combat…

The IDF releases footage showing the elite LOTAR unit fighting in the Gaza Strip, including during an incident where the unit’s troops identified a Hamas operative coming out of a tunnel shaft while opening fire at soldiers, apparently in an attempt to draw them to an explosive… pic.twitter.com/7u6mOYiGHM

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 21, 2023

Pressure is also mounting due to the immense civilian death toll. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says over 20,000 Palestinians have died. Israel has responded by saying many thousands of these were Hamas militants; however, Palestinian and international human rights groups say the bulk are women and children.