Israeli quarrel over Gaza talks continues, blindsiding military envoy

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
20 Sep 2024 20:25
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Netanyahu's government is caught, once again, lying to captives' families and derailing ceasefire talks, remarks of a top negotiator reveal.

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Israeli police try to disperse Israeli settlers protesting the Israeli government and demanding a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal be signed with the Palestinian Resistance, in Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, on September 13, 2024 (AP)

A top Israeli negotiator and the Israeli military command's envoy to the ongoing mediated negotiations, Nitzan Alon, has no knowledge of a supposed deal offered by the Israeli regime to the Palestinian Resistance earlier this week.

The supposed deal was quickly rejected by Palestinian Resistance officials and centers around a supposed plan to allow "safe passage" to the Resistance leader and the Chief of Hamas' Political Bureau, Yahya Sinwar, among other clauses.

A source from the Palestinian Resistance's leadership told Al Mayadeen that the proposal publicized in media outlets by Gal Hirsch, a captives' envoy heavily linked to Benjamin Netanyahu's government, was "ridiculous."

"The Israeli proposal indicates a state of confusion, negotiations bankruptcy, and insistence on continuing the war," the official told Al Mayadeen on Thursday. "[The Israeli proposal] means completely closing the door on negotiations."

Hirsch spoke to representatives of Israeli captives' families and decimated the information to them.

However, when the Israeli military command's envoy, Alon, was questioned on the matter, he told captives' families that the proposal was unknown to the actual Israeli negotiating team, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reported.

"The proposal that Gal Hirsch presented to the United States is unknown to the negotiating team, Hirsch was never a part of the negotiating team," the military envoy reportedly said.

Security Minister Yoav Gallant, who has had his own quarrel with the Prime Minister and others in the coalition government, echoed Alon's remarks. He said that he was unaware of such a proposal, which was not discussed in official government meetings.

Netanyahu's government continues to torpedo ceasefire talks

Furthermore, Hirsch had not even met with members of the American negotiating team, to which he says the proposal was presented, a US source told Axios reporter Barak Ravid.

The reports and statements confirm, yet again, remarks from the Palestinian Resistance's leadership which explained that neither American negotiators nor Qatari and Egyptian mediators delivered such a proposal to the Palestinian side.

"At a time when 101 captives are abandoned by Netanyahu’s government in Hamas’s tunnels of death, Hirsch is working behind the backs of the negotiating team and torpedoing an international initiative to bring the hostages home," a statement made by a group representing the families of captives stated.

"This exercise in fraud joins a long list of deals torpedoed by Netanyahu and his partners, and proves that Netanyahu has decided to abandon the hostages," the statement said.

Fabricating reports, abandoning captives

The 11th month of the war on Gaza has seen a floodgate of Netanyahu-issued fabricated information and maneuvers that led to the deaths of captives in the Gaza Strip exposed.

These events caused outrage among Israeli settlers, especially the families of captives, and Israeli officials.

In an expose published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth Netanyahu and members of his coalition government were accused of derailing talks that would have led to the release of at least three captives in the first stage of a deal agreed to by the Palestinian Resistance. The bodies of these three captives, including settlers holding the American nationality, were retrieved from the southern Gaza Strip on September 1 this year.

Netanyahu was exposed for sharing yet another set of fabricated documents in an attempt to justify the occupation of key areas in the Gaza Strip, a major obstacle in reaching a final agreement. The Prime Minister claimed that the Palestinian Resistance was planning on transferring the captives through the Palestinian-Egyptian border.

The latest remarks made by Hirsch on behalf of the government further expose Netanyahu's lie, as the deal providing "safe passage" contradicts Netanyahu's claims of smuggling through the border.