Netanyahu calls Hamas ceasefire proposal 'delusional' but Blinken sees scope for progress
www.reuters.com
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected Hamas' latest offer for a ceasefire and return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was still room for negotiation toward an agreement.

Hamas has proposed a ceasefire plan that would quiet the guns in Gaza for four-and-a-half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.

There was no immediate public response from Israel, which has said it will not pull its troops out of Gaza until Hamas is wiped out.

The Hamas counterproposal envisages three phases of a truce, lasting 45 days each. Militants would exchange remaining Israeli hostages captured on Oct. 7 for Palestinian prisoners. The reconstruction of Gaza would begin, Israeli forces would withdraw completely, and bodies and remains would be exchanged.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived overnight in Israel after meeting the leaders of mediators Qatar and Egypt.

A source close to the negotiations said the Hamas counterproposal did not require a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire at the outset, but an end to the war would have to be agreed during the truce before the final hostages were freed.

  • Shyfer@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    Ya know, if I had to hide in shelters from rocket attacks almost everyday, witnessing a stabbing that happened right next to a date I was having, etc, I’d probably be pretty fucking jaded as well.

    That’s hilariously quaint next to life as a Palestinian. Hell, a stabbing? That’s quaint next to life in the hood of the USA. Maybe ask her to consider the Palestinian perspective next. They lost their land and haven’t been able to return. 78% of their water is bad. They can’t control their borders, imports, or exports. They can be held for months without trial or charge. The noise is so bad from the buzz of drones they can’t sleep. Israel restricts their calories to the bare minimum (calls it “putting them on a diet”). They raid their areas occasionally to kill some people and take more prisoners (call it “mowing the grass”). They bomb their hospitals, apartment buildings, refugee camps, and other civilian infrastructure. They get their trees and agriculture pulled by Israeli settlers who get defended by troops. Unemployment is rampant. Israel controls their electricity, which doesn’t work multiple times a day, their trash, and all other parts of their infrastructure. All they have is unguided rockets that occasionally kill their own, while Israel has a state of the art rocket defense system that prevents almost all of their deaths, jets, bombs, helicopters, and always the latest in military gear and tech. The Palestinians are maimed en masse during peaceful protests like the Great March of Return. The list goes on and on.

    The Nazi comparison is right. Imagine some Nazi saying they’re thankful the government is moving the Jews away from them by putting them on these trains. It’s more of a buffer zone from the scary Jewish ghettos. They bring up the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and how they saw people die from the scary Jews.

    That’s basically what she was saying. There’s no concern for the citizens at all, and no realization that the “scary” situation is completely of their own making due to their own occupation and blockade of civilians, who will then rightly get angrier and angrier as time passes without a solution allowing their own sovereignty.