“ROOM TO PRESSURE HAMAS”
Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, “Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost”, albeit with some “red lines”.
“And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s position is that they should dismantle themselves,” he said.
Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas’s capacity to fight or govern, something the militant group has rejected.
But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu’s government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier’s hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.
It gives Netanyahu “more room to pressure Hamas”, Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump “prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he’s leaving the field open to Netanyahu … as long as the ceasefire is maintained”.
