)
The death of Haniyeh, a significant figure in Hamas’s political and diplomatic structure, has raised serious questions about the future of ongoing ceasefire negotiations. American officials had recently indicated that these talks, mediated by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt, were close to yielding a temporary ceasefire and a potential hostage release deal.
However, the assassination has cast doubt on the feasibility of these efforts moving forward.
Every week or two there’s a new ceasefire deal on the table and then Netanyahu says something to the tune of “but we’re not stopping until Hamas is gone”.
It seems that the negotiators don’t have the authority to negotiate for anything other than “you stop shooting now and we’ll stop shooting when you’re dead”.
Pretty much. Netanyahu never wanted a ceasefire to begin with. My guess is that any talk of a path to a two-state solution or a ceasefire has just been a stalling tactic used by the US to deal with any criticism of Israel’s war crimes. I wonder how long the State Department can keep this charade going, quite honestly.