Gaza: close to a deal - good news?
There are growing signs that an agreement in the Gaza war is imminent. A draft agreement provides for the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages for around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and a 42-day ceasefire, with Israel's army withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip. During this time further releases and a long-term ceasefire would be negotiated.
Breakthrough possible – also thanks to Trump
Echo24 sees two factors that make a deal more likely now:
“The first is the destruction of Hamas. It is now only a shadow of its former self. Its network of allies, from Hezbollah to Iran, has collapsed. ... The second is Donald Trump, who has positioned himself as a staunch defender of Israel. He has repeatedly warned that 'all hell will break out' if the hostages are not freed by the time he takes office on 20 January. Although he did not elaborate on what that hell look like, he seems more determined than the hesitant Biden administration.”
This should have come much sooner
A deal like this could have been reached long ago, complains Die Presse:
“Last spring, US President Biden presented the outlines of an agreement that is the blueprint for the current one. A deal also seemed within reach at the time, but Hamas and Netanyahu ultimately balked over the details – which six months later, after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October and Trump's election victory have vanished into thin air. The Israeli hostage families and above all the Palestinian civilian population could have been spared a great deal of suffering. But Israel's prime minister played for time during the interregnum in Washington. Israel should have ended the war after the death of the terrorist mastermind Sinwar at the latest.”
Limited humanitarian impact
The suffering of the people of Gaza will not automatically end if the war ends, the Irish Examiner warns:
“After 15 months of war the big questions on the short- and long-term future of Gaza remain largely unanswered. A cessation of military action, while hugely welcome, will not materially alleviate the immediate and humanitarian catastrophe facing two million residents of Gaza. The logistical task of providing minimum food and health services to stave off a deepening humanitarian catastrophe will remain as daunting as ever. This task is complicated by Israeli government actions to undermine NGOs providing humanitarian aid or assistance to the population of Gaza.”
Long-term solutions lacking
Much more than a hostage needs to be secured to achieve peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, Der Standard concurs:
“Nothing has been resolved in this conflict, the biggest hurdles are yet to come. How is the completely destroyed Gaza to be rebuilt – and who will bear the responsibility? How can the people in Israel's south live without fear of missiles and without relying on the permanent presence of the Israeli army in Gaza? ... There are still no answers to any of these questions. Israel's army has been demanding them for months, but the political leadership refuses to provide them. Trump may be successful with his pressure for a ceasefire deal. Whether he is the right person to demand longer-term solutions is doubtful.”
New era, same old Netanyahu
La Stampa is convinced the deal will be a success and baffled by the Israeli prime minister's political resilience:
“Now the third political life of Benjamin Netanyahu begins. ... He is already Israel's longest-serving leader. Politically, he has outlived five US presidents and countless European and international heads of state and government. ... Only Vladimir Putin can keep up with him: he has been in the Kremlin for longer, but never had to face the jungle of Israeli proportional representation and the party fragmentation in the Knesset, where acrobatic coalition majorities depend on little more than a single vote. ... Now a new era is dawning, marked by the end of the war against Hamas internally and the new (and old) US presidency abroad.”