Israel-Hamas war: Developments in Gaza ceasefire talks raise hopes but challenges persist

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. But a statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office on Sunday cast doubt on whether the deal would progress, laying out several “principles” Israel is not prepared to abandon, including resumed fighting in Gaza “until all of objectives of the war have been achieved.” Israel launched its war on Gaza nine months ago, in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. US President Joe Biden in May laid out a three-phase proposal that he said Israel had submitted, as he declared “it’s time for this war to end.” The first phase of the potential agreement would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” as well as the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.” Phase 2 would allow for the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.” In Phase 3, the president said, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families.” A Palestinian tailor works in a newly reopened sewing factory after the machines were retrieved from a building hit in an Israeli strike, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The prime minister’s “steadfast position” against calls to halt Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is what brought Hamas to the negotiating table, the statement said. Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir warned that a negotiated settlement is a “surrender to terrorism on all fronts,” and said “the prime minister conducts himself as a one-man government, making decisions by himself, and excluding his natural partners in the government, including cabinet meetings that are without any significant content,” describing the situation as “intolerable.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, told his party that the proposed outline of a ceasefire deal was a defeat and humiliation for Israel and a victory for Sinwar,” Hamas’ leader in Gaza.