It would be a brave – or foolhardy – analyst who presumes to predict the outcomes of the talks which continue in Doha. But the fate of Gaza and its 2 million inhabitants as well as the 109 remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, will depend on a political solution being found. And there are many moving parts involved, not all of them in the Middle East.
Despite the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, talking up what he referred to as a “bridging proposal”, designed to overcome the differences between Hamas and Israel over matters such as whether – and where – the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would retain troops on the Gaza Strip.
The Netanyahu government wants to maintain a military presence along the Philadelphi corridor, which runs along the southern border that divides Gaza from Egypt. It also wants the IDF to continue to patrol the Netzarim axis, which has been established during the IDF ground operation against Hamas in Gaza and effectively cuts the enclave in two below Gaza City.
