Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 33
Anadolu: US President Donald Trump realizes that Israel is “illogically” toughening its demands in Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, an Egyptian official said.
“The mediators are aware of these aspects. We are now in the real stages, and Trump knows the negotiations are difficult and that the Israeli side is raising its demands to a point that may seem illogical,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), told Al-Qahera News channel on Monday night.
He added that Trump gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enough opportunities to release hostages held in Gaza.
“Now time has almost run out,” he added.
“I don’t think President Trump has much patience to arrive in a region (next month) where a war is raging,” Rashwan opined.
On Monday, Egyptian media said that Egypt sent an Israeli proposal to Hamas for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the start of talks to secure a permanent truce.
“I think the (Hamas) response to the Israeli proposal will be quick. There will be things the mediators can do, and their efforts have not ceased,” Rashwan said.
Hamas has repeatedly confirmed that it is open to proposals that ensure a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a serious prisoner exchange deal.
Israel estimates 59 hostages remain in Gaza, 24 of whom are alive, while more than 9,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, facing torture, starvation, and medical neglect that have led to numerous deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
Israeli media reported progress Monday toward a potential deal with Hamas backed by US guarantees, but previous prisoner swap talks have frequently stalled due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to end Israel’s destructive war on Gaza.
Egypt, alongside Qatar and the US, brokered a phased ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in January, which Israel later violated by unilaterally resuming the war on March 18.
Netanyahu abandoned the second phase of the deal under pressure from his government’s far-right faction, according to Israeli media reports.
At least 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
