A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal hung in the balance as the fate of those in captivity for almost 300 days became ever more desperate.
The IDF’s attack on Rafah, the last bastion of Hamas military control in Gaza, failed to achieve the surrender of the terrorist group, despite claims that only military pressure could bring about the release of the hostages.
The families of the hostages hoped that a breakthrough would be announced during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress on July 24 or at his subsequent White House meeting with US President Joe Biden. “Seal the deal!” they chanted in protests held in Washington during Netanyahu’s visit, but their hopes were dashed.
“I hope so,” Netanyahu said when reporters at his meeting in Florida with former president Donald Trump asked if his US trip had made progress toward a ceasefire.
While many in Israel believe the prime minister is putting obstacles in the way of a deal to stave off the potential collapse of his right-wing government, he said he was “certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”
Working for a hostage deal
Some 111 hostages seized on October 7 remain in captivity in Gaza. Israel has confirmed the death of 39 of them, although the real figure is believed to be significantly higher.
Under the emerging deal, all the women, elderly, and wounded hostages are due to be released in the first “humanitarian” stage which will last for 42 days, in return for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. Israel and Hamas would negotiate a permanent end to the fighting during this six-week period.
In the second phase, all remaining living hostages, which includes male soldiers, would be set free, and Israel would withdraw all its forces from Gaza.
The third and final phase calls for the return of the bodies of the dead hostages. Hamas wants any deal to include an Israeli commitment to a permanent end to the war, guaranteed by the mediators. However, Netanyahu has refused to make such a pledge or for international guarantees for such an outcome, raising suspicion that he intends to renew the fighting after the release of the hostages in phase one.
In addition to this Hamas demand, which has been consistent since the start of the negotiations, two specific issues appear to be holding up a breakthrough. Hamas is against Israel’s proposal for a screening mechanism that would allow non-armed residents to return to their homes in northern Gaza. Differences also remain over the arrangements for the Philadelphi Corridor – the border road between Gaza and Egypt – and the plan for the Rafah crossing, seized by the IDF in May.
According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu is at odds with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the entire military and intelligence echelons who believe the time is now ripe to reach an agreement.
Sources close to the negotiations said that “the negotiating team is concerned that the demands Netanyahu has introduced are meant to derail the process.” According to these sources, “the prime minister believes that if he hardens his stance, Hamas will fold. But he is taking a dangerous gamble with the lives of the hostages. There is no time.”
During Netanyahu’s US visit, serious differences emerged between Israel and US Vice President Kamala Harris, who called for a quick end to the war in the Gaza.
Harris – who almost certainly will be the Democratic nominee for November’s presidential election – made her comments while speaking to reporters after a White House meeting with Netanyahu. She also raised “serious concerns” about casualties in Gaza and the humanitarian situation.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent. It is time for this war to end,” she said, stressing the need for a path to a two-state solution.
Netanyahu, after his talks with Donald Trump, the day after Harris made her comments, said that there was “some movement” on ceasefire efforts “because of the military pressure we exerted.” However, he added: “I think to the extent that Hamas understands that there’s no daylight between Israel and the United States, that it expedites the deal. And I hope that those [Harris’s] comments don’t change that.”
“Someone should update her on what happened to peaceful civilians – children, women, and infants who were slaughtered in their homes and burned alive,” said Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, from Netanyahu’s Likud party. “It would be wise for anyone aspiring to lead the free world to know how to distinguish between cause and effect, good and evil.”
Trump, in his talks with Netanyahu, described Harris’s comments the day before as “disrespectful” to Israel. He promised that he would commit to seeking peace if reelected president, saying that his own relationship with Netanyahu had always been good. “No president has done what I’ve done for Israel,” he declared. “We’ve always had a very good relationship.”
This was the first meeting between the two former close allies in four years and followed Netanyahu’s praise of Trump in his speech to Congress, noting his role in pushing through the Abraham Accords and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”
Trump was angry when the prime minister congratulated Biden on his election victory four years ago and also criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the October 7 Hamas attack. He has repeatedly urged Israel to “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas.
Biden’s meeting at the White House with Netanyahu was his first with a world leader since announcing he would drop out of the 2024 presidential race. During the meeting, the president stressed the need to finalize the deal as soon as possible, according to a readout from the White House.
“Biden expressed the need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza,” the White House readout said. “The President also raised the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the need to remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restoring basic services for those in need, and the critical importance of protecting civilian lives during military operations.”
Biden also participated in a meeting with Netanyahu that included families of American hostages in Gaza. There are eight dual-American citizens believed to be still captive in Gaza, three of whom have been confirmed dead.
“After asking a series of difficult questions and getting answers to all of them…. We feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November,” hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, told reporters outside the White House, adding that their meeting was “productive and honest.”
“We got absolute commitments from the Biden administration and from Prime Minister Netanyahu that they understand the urgency of this moment now to waste no time in completing this deal as it currently stands with as little change as humanly possible,” he said, claiming that the US administration, Congress, and the Israeli leadership were on the same page. White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Biden conveyed to Netanyahu “how deeply and strongly the president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place and get a ceasefire – at least for phase one for those first six weeks.”
He stressed that the gaps that remain can be bridged if there’s leadership and willingness to compromise and make the effort. The prime minister was forced to cut his US visit short by a few hours and return to Israel following the news of a devastating Hezbollah rocket attack on Majdal Shams, prompting fears that Israel would be focused on a military escalation in the North at the expense of the efforts to clinch a hostage release. “I can say that the State of Israel will not allow this incident to pass quietly. We are not going to go about business as usual,” he said before returning to Israel.
The prime minister was invited to Washington to address a joint session of the Congress, becoming the foreign leader who has addressed the august forum more times than anyone else – on four occasions now, one more than Winston Churchill.
Love or loathe him, there is no denying Netanyahu’s rhetorical skills. And in flawless, American-accented English, he delivered an eloquent speech to the joint session, receiving more than 50 standing ovations.
At least 39 lawmakers were absent from the address. Almost all were Democrats, among them influential former house speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said it had been “inappropriate” for Netanyahu to visit; and Kamala Harris, who cited a campaign scheduling clash.
The address was primarily an attempt by Netanyahu to improve his tarnished image back home, where some 70 percent of the Israeli population believe he should resign. Unlike other senior politicians and military and intelligence officials, he has adamantly refused to accept personal responsibility for the events of October 7, the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.
The hopes of the hostage families were dashed just before Netanyahu began his address when it was announced that the Israeli negotiators would not leave as planned the following day for more talks aimed at clinching an agreement.
The official reason was that Netanyahu preferred to delay dispatching the delegation until after his meeting with President Biden, where he hoped to coordinate positions.
But the delay also happened to perfectly suit the prime minister’s political calculations.
The two far-right parties in his coalition are threatening to quit the government if a ceasefire agreement is reached. A few days after Netanyahu’s trip, the Knesset began a three-month summer recess. This gives Netanyahu three months’ breathing space during which coalition parties will not be able to bring down the government.
The majority of Israelis support the message of Netanyahu’s address. The war is still considered as just, and people believe, as he said, that Israel is on the front line of a global struggle between civilization and barbarism, with Hamas responsible for the civilian deaths in Gaza. Most Israelis also endorse his description of the anti-Israel protesters, including those who demonstrated outside Congress, as Iran’s “useful idiots.”
The speech may temporarily boost Netanyahu’s popularity in the polls, but events on the northern front are likely to be the focus for the next few weeks. Just after his address to Congress, the army announced that soldiers had recovered the bodies of five people killed on October 7 that were being held in Khan Yunis.
The thundering applause in Congress cannot change the fact that the lives of those hostages still alive are in danger – and the ongoing protests calling to “Bring Them Home Now!” serve as a reminder of Israel’s painful reality.