Officials involved in negotiations for a cease-fire in Lebanon said on Monday that an agreement could be reached within the next two weeks, but a decision must be made in Jerusalem.
Israel and the U.S. made progress on the document that would be added to any cease-fire deal and would ensure Israel's freedom to operate militarily in southern Lebanon if the terms of the cease-fire are violated and measures are not taken in response.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden Naim Qassem
(Photo: Reuters, Mohamed Azakir / AP, Leon Neal/Reuters)
Lebanese MTV channel reported on Monday evening that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein and President Joe Biden's special ambassador Brett McGurk will return to the region next week.
While there is some optimism that a cease-fire can be agreed on in Lebanon, there is much pessimism among Israeli officials that any progress in reaching a cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas in Gaza has not taken place.
Hamas said it rejected any proposal that did not include an Israeli withdrawal from all of the Gaza Strip and an end to the war.
"Truth must be told, there is no sliver of a deal. The question is whether now we must save the surviving hostages and end the war in Gaza," officials said. "We must face facts."
IDF troops in Gaza
(Video: IDF)
But observers in Jerusalem note that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to end the war, his coalition will fall, so he is not likely to choose that path. He may attempt to tie a cease-fire deal to the efforts to reach normalization with Saudi Arabia, but that would take months. The hostages are under constant threat and may not survive.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in his daily briefing to reporters that the administration wants to see an end to the war and is working toward that aim. Miller added that Israel was one side of the conflict and Hamas has continued to fight.
"Israel cannot afford - for many reasons, economically, diplomatically, in terms of its standing around the world to continue to fight a perpetual conflict in Gaza," he said "To get to a long-term stand you have to have a political path."
Officials in Israel were bracing for increased pressure from the U.S. to end the war, which will come soon after the elections on Tuesday. They believe that no matter who wins the race to the White House, the Biden administration will want to reach a deal that will end the war and free the hostages, as part of his legacy.
If Trump is elected, Netanyahu may now want to give Biden the win with a deal in Lebanon and the release of the hostages. On the other hand, Trump also called for the war to end.
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