JERUSALEM (AFP) – The United States (US) said on Tuesday it was time to “finalise” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to bow to pressure.
Washington would work “over the coming days” with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
He was speaking after Netanyahu rejected “concessions” in indirect negotiations with Hamas, despite growing domestic and international pressure following the recovery by Israel’s military of six killed hostages from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“It is time to finalise that deal,” Miller said.
The US on Tuesday unsealed a raft of “terrorism” and other charges against six Hamas leaders related to the group’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Those targeted in the February charges include Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, who had been engaged in truce talks when he was killed in July in an attack by Israel.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an “independent, impartial and transparent investigation” into reports that the six captives recovered dead from Gaza had been summarily executed.
Despite increasing grief and fury among Israelis, who have taken to the streets to pressure the government and express concern for the fate of the hostages, Netanyahu said he would “not give in to pressure”.
The Israeli prime minister “has been ruining our chances to get a deal with Hamas to return our hostages alive,” Tel Aviv protester Jonathan Edan said.
“The only thing he wants to survive is his political career and his coalition,” the 26-year-old told AFP.
The Israeli premier on Monday said “the achievement of the war’s objectives” requires control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, to stop Hamas from rearming.
Egypt on Tuesday rejected accusations its Gaza border was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of seeking to “distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct reaching a ceasefire deal”.
Saudi Arabia backed Cairo and expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli statements regarding the Philadelphi Corridor”, in a foreign ministry statement.
US President Joe Biden, meeting with negotiators, replied “no” when asked if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal.
Hamas has long demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and Egyptian officials have objected to an Israeli military presence on the border.
Netanyahu “wants to occupy Gaza on some level indefinitely” and was now “just saying it more openly”, analyst Mairav Zonszein told AFP.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained troops and settlers there until 2005, when it withdrew but imposed a crippling blockade and, since the start of the current war, a total siege.
Increasing the pressure on Israel, Britain on Monday said it would suspend some arms exports, citing a “clear risk” they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.
