![War in Gaza: Antony Blinken is optimistic about a ceasefire War in Gaza: Antony Blinken is optimistic about a ceasefire](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/66686dae358e5b785c619870/1280x720/01101814866217-web-tete.jpg)
For Antony Blinken, Israel and Hamas agree to move forward with the plan on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by the Islamists. This is the message that the American Secretary of State wanted to convey on Tuesday, during the Israeli leg of his eighth tour in the region since the start of the war on October 7.
The whole question is whether Israel and Hamas are not playing with words. The only certainty: the UN Security Council voted almost unanimously (only Russia abstained) in support of the plan recently presented by President Joe Biden. It is difficult, in the face of such international consensus, to say no.
“Sign of hope”
The American Secretary of State seized this opportunity to try to conclude. He obtained the green light from Palestinian Islamists. “Hamas accepts the text adopted by the Security Council and is ready to discuss the details,” said Sami Abou Zuhri, a Hamas leader.
And added: “The American administration now faces a real test to force the occupation (editor’s note Israel) to immediately end the war.” Antony Blinken described this conditional green light from Hamas as a “sign of hope”. The Secretary of State also affirmed, following an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, that the Israeli Prime Minister had renewed his “commitment” to a ceasefire.
Keep the power
On paper, things seem about to unblock. But the top priority of the Islamists is to maintain the power that they have exercised unchallenged in Gaza since 2007. This explains why they first demand a ceasefire and a withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Strip. Gaza in exchange for the 120 hostages they are holding. Stopping the fighting would allow the Islamist movement to regain control of the enclave in the absence, for the moment, of any credible alternative.
However, this is precisely the scenario that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to avoid. According to one of his close associates, the Prime Minister has no intention of giving in on three points: “the elimination of Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, the release of the hostages and the assurance that the Gaza Strip will no longer represent a threat to Israel. “To claim that Israel can agree to end the war without having achieved these objectives is false,” warns this official.
Buffer
To try to convince the Prime Minister to show flexibility, the Americans made a gesture by accepting that Israel could create a buffer zone approximately 1 km wide all along the border between the Jewish state and the Strip. of Gaza, thus encroaching on Palestinian territory.
According to Israeli commentators, such a concession should not, however, be enough for the Prime Minister to agree to apply to the letter the UN resolution, which includes a reference to “the two-state solution”, in other words to the possible creation of a Palestinian state, which Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to hear about.
In addition, his room for maneuver has been reduced dramatically since the resignation from the war cabinet on Monday of Benny Gantz, a centrist former chief of staff, who openly supported Joe Biden’s plan.
Political interests
Benyamin Netanyahu thus found himself even more at the mercy of the two far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir (National Security) and Bezalel Smotrich (Finance), who are up in arms against the UN Security Council resolution and threaten to bring down the government if Netanyahu agreed to implement it. On this point, Ynet, Israel’s most popular news site, quotes US officials as saying that the prime minister will ultimately only do what “serves his political interests.”