Hamas may have agreed to a ceasefire - but is Netanyahu ready to negotiate?
The question is whether Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to negotiate.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been holding talks with in their latest effort to broker a ceasefire, and, according to senior diplomats, Hamas has agreed to a deal in which half the hostages held in Gaza will be freed in return for Israel releasing some Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has been clear that he wants all the hostages back in one go, Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip and the installation of a new government that is neither Hamas nor - crucially - the Palestinian Authority (PA).
And on that point, as well as the others, a row looms.
The PA, which is the governing body of the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, seems to have been far more closely involved in these negotiations than Hamas.
The ceasefire proposal is likely to suggest that, after the removal of Hamas, Gaza would be controlled by a committee overseen by the PA.
For Israel to agree that would require a significant political change of heart - not something that has been Netanyahu's speciality.
Read more from Sky News:
His decision now rests between competing forces.
The chunk of the Israeli public that has just held a nationwide strike, calling for the war to the end.
And those, including members of his cabinet, who think that Israel needs to wholly subjugate, if not entirely occupy, Gaza in order to either maintain its safety or fulfil its historic destiny.
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JERUSALEM -- A key mediator on Tuesday stressed the urgency of brokering a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after Hamas showed a 'positive response' to a proposal from Arab countries, but Israel has yet to weigh in as its military prepares an offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. The prospect of an expanded assault on Gaza City and other areas sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians has sparked international outrage. Palestinians say there is nowhere to flee after 22 months of war that has already killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of the territory. 'They are talking about a 60-day truce, and after Israel gets its (hostages) they will strike us again,' said Huda Rishe, who has been displaced four times since the start of the war. 'We will return to Gaza City and then leave again. We have lost hope.' AP reporters saw some families arriving in central Gaza after fleeing Gaza City. 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The ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half of them. In addition to that toll, other Palestinians have died from malnutrition and starvation, including three reported in the past 24 hours, the ministry said Tuesday. It says 154 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it began counting such deaths, and 112 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began. Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Hamas says it will only free the rest in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Aid groups continue to struggle to deliver supplies to Gaza, where most of the population is displaced, large swaths are in ruins and experts say the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out." Israel imposed a full blockade in March, then allowed limited aid to resume two and a half months later. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said 370 trucks of aid entered Tuesday — still below the 600 per day that the United Nations and partners say is needed. COGAT said Tuesday that 180 pallets of aid were airdropped into Gaza with help from countries including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and France. The U.N. and partners have called airdrops expensive, inefficient and even dangerous for people on the ground.
