Well, that’s that. Under pressure from the US and other allies as well as the families of the remaining hostages, Israel offered a one-week operational pause to exchange more Palestinian prisoners to free the remaining Israelis. That offered a longer pause than the first deal, and a potential framework for other discussions.
Instead, Hamas insisted on a formal cease-fire, release of all imprisoned Palestinians, and increased aid just to open negotiations:
The hostage negotiations were set to include, for the first time, representatives of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has also said that Israel must implement a cease-fire before negotiations could start. Islamic Jihad also demands that Israel free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Fighters belonging to Islamic Jihad, which like Hamas has been…
