NYT (“Israel and Hamas Say They’ll Work With Trump’s Gaza Plan, but Gaps Remain“):
Israel and Hamas signaled a readiness to move forward with President Trump’s cease-fire plan in a diplomatic breakthrough, but significant gaps will need to be negotiated to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
The Israeli government said on Saturday morning that it was preparing for the “immediate implementation” of the first steps of Mr. Trump’s plan. Hours earlier, Hamas issued its own qualified acceptance of the proposal, saying it would release all remaining hostages.
Mr. Trump exuded confidence that a deal was imminent, saying it was a “big day” while also exhorting Israel to stop bombing Gaza. He conceded that negotiators still needed “to get the final word down in concrete.”
Neither Israel nor Hamas addressed in detail what had long been seen as the major sticking points to reaching an agreement. Hamas did not elaborate on whether it would accept Mr. Trump’s stipulation, backed by Israel, that the group disarm.
It was also unclear whether Israel was willing to accept any major changes to Mr. Trump’s plan, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he supported during a visit to the White House this week.
WaPo (“High stakes for Gaza peace talks as Hamas accepts Trump plan with conditions“):
Israel continued to strike targets in Gaza early Saturday, medical workers and local journalists said, despite calls from President Donald Trump for it to “immediately” halt its bombing campaign after Hamas conditionally accepted his 20-point peace plan and agreed to release all Israeli hostages subject to detailed negotiations.
[…]
The continued violence underscored the fragility of a peace process that has now been backed, in its broad strokes, by both Israel and Hamas but is entering a tricky phase. Intense negotiations are expected to begin over the fine points of Trump’s plan, which was heavily shaped by Netanyahu before it was unveiled, and which Hamas demands must be amended to also reflect its input.
Under the terms set by Netanyahu, the Israeli military would only withdraw in phases and not before the group laid down its weapons. In response, Hamas signaled willingness to release the hostages but also a demand for firmer commitments from Israel on its military withdrawal and — perhaps most difficult for Israel to accept — a discussion about its role in a future unified Palestinian state.
In a short statement before dawn, Netanyahu signaled his willingness to work with Trump but his reluctance to bend to Hamas, saying he will seek to bring the war to an end “in accordance with the principles set forth by Israel, which are consistent with President Trump’s vision.”
The Israeli military said it had received orders to “advance readiness” for the release of hostages and the protection of its troops were now a top priority. The army will pause its Gaza City ground invasion and switch to only defensive operations, a person familiar with the matter said.
After days of applying pressure on Hamas and warning on social media that “all HELL” will break loose if Hamas did not accept his deal by Sunday evening, Trump appeared to pivot after the militant group’s conditional acceptance late Friday. In a message on Truth Social, Trump said “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza” so hostages could be returned and added that he believed Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE.”
The onus is now on Netanyahu, who has stated that Israel would end the war if all hostages were returned and Hamas disarmed. Israeli officials and government advisers have said in recent weeks they did not believe Hamas would agree to either condition, but Hamas’s response on Friday, agreeing to release all hostages and asking to discuss the terms of the Israeli withdrawal, may test Netanyahu’s willingness to end the war.
“If Hamas is truly willing to release all of the hostages, then Prime Minister Netanyahu — under pressure from President Trump as well as a majority of Israelis who support the war ending on that basis — will have to decide if doing so is still a sufficient basis alone,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council. “Almost certainly, Prime Minister Netanyahu will be disappointed by the president’s statement on Truth Social and concerned that it reopens the potential for negotiations over the 20-point proposal, which Netanyahu almost certainly viewed as take-it-or-leave-it.”
David Halbfinger for the NYT (“For Netanyahu, Trump’s Nod to Peace Puts Him in a Tough Spot“):
This did not go the way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted.
On Monday, the Israeli leader won a peace plan from President Trump that promised him total victory, in the form of a take-it-or-leave-it message to Hamas. The militant group would have to release all the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza within 72 hours, lay down its arms and surrender any role in the territory’s future — or Israel would be given a free hand to pursue the group’s destruction.
On Friday, responding to a new ultimatum from Mr. Trump, Hamas announced that it was ready to release all the hostages. But it said nothing about how soon it would do so, demurred on laying down its arms, and said it wanted to “discuss the details” of Mr. Trump’s plan.
To Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Mr. Netanyahu’s, this was “in essence, a rejection by Hamas” of the president’s proposal, he wrote on social media.
To Michael Herzog, Mr. Netanyahu’s former ambassador to the United States, it was “a ‘no’ cloaked as a ‘yes,’” he said in an interview.
Yet Mr. Trump embraced the Hamas statement as an unqualified “yes.” “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” he wrote on social media. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”
[…]
The prospect of a return of the hostages and an end to the war buoyed hopes in both Israel and Gaza on Saturday after nearly two years of brutal conflict and devastation.
Mr. Netanyahu now finds himself squeezed both by domestic political concerns and by geopolitical pressure from Mr. Trump, from Muslim and Arab nations across the Middle East, and from countries far and wide that greeted Friday night’s developments as if peace had already broken out.
“He will find himself with the entire world clapping and he needs to explain why he’s against it,” said Eran Etzion, a former deputy Israeli national security adviser.
The president’s call for the Israeli military to stand down immediately — with negotiations to follow between Israel and Hamas — could not have been welcomed by the prime minister, Mr. Etzion said. “These negotiations will be conducted under the conditions of a cease-fire, which is contrary to Netanyahu’s design,” he said. “Netanyahu wanted this all to take place under Israeli military pressure.”
The prospect of a return of the hostages and an end to the war buoyed hopes in both Israel and Gaza on Saturday after nearly two years of brutal conflict and devastation.
Mr. Netanyahu now finds himself squeezed both by domestic political concerns and by geopolitical pressure from Mr. Trump, from Muslim and Arab nations across the Middle East, and from countries far and wide that greeted Friday night’s developments as if peace had already broken out.
“He will find himself with the entire world clapping and he needs to explain why he’s against it,” said Eran Etzion, a former deputy Israeli national security adviser.
The president’s call for the Israeli military to stand down immediately — with negotiations to follow between Israel and Hamas — could not have been welcomed by the prime minister, Mr. Etzion said. “These negotiations will be conducted under the conditions of a cease-fire, which is contrary to Netanyahu’s design,” he said. “Netanyahu wanted this all to take place under Israeli military pressure.”
The quoted analysts are right that, despite President Trump’s triumphalism, this amounts to a rejection of his take it or leave it deal. Were Netanyahu a normal politician, I would also agree that Hamas has boxed him in.
But, as he has demonstrated time and again over the last quarter-century, he is not a normal politician. The fact that he ordered another bombing mission after Trump’s demand that he stop would seem to signal that he’s going to continue pushing for a maximal victory.
It’s possible that a deal is reached that eventually returns Gaza to Palestinian control. I can not imagine, though, that he will allow Hamas to continue to exist as an armed group.
