(Bloomberg) -- The killing of six Israelis held hostage by Hamas has underscored the urgency of international efforts to negotiate a winding down of the war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group that erupted in October 2023. A plan unveiled on May 31 by US President Joe Biden for an initial cease-fire and eventual end to hostilities set off several rounds of shuttle diplomacy and the drafting of a follow-up bridging proposal.
There have been doubts about how motivated the two sides are to sign up to a truce.
Positions set out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have stoked suspicion among Israelis that he is stalling on concessions to Hamas that could anger his far-right political allies and threaten his governing coalition. As for Hamas, Biden has said the proposed cease-fire would eventually end its 17-year rule over Gaza, a Palestinian territory on the Mediterranean coast.
The two sides appear to be stuck over a number of issues:
The Philadelphi Corridor
The question of Israel’s hold on what it calls the Philadelphi Corridor has pitted Netanyahu’s government not just against Hamas but also Egypt and the US. The strip of land is roughly 100 meters wide and 14 kilometers (9 miles) long, and runs the length of the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Biden’s May proposal, which was adopted by the United Nations Security Council in June, calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza in an initial, six-week-long truce. That should include the Philadelphi Corridor, the US State Department said on Sept. 3, describing it as “densely populated.” Israel disputes that, and satellite photographs show its bombs and bulldozers have pulverized a swathe of buildings in the area.
Israeli officials have argued that the belt of land warrants exemption from a first-phase withdrawal because Israeli forces were not fully in control of it in May and have since discovered a network of tunnels used to smuggle weapons, including at the Rafah border crossing. These, Netanyahu argued in a Sept. 1 news conference, could be used by Hamas to rearm or to spirit hostages into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and beyond if Israeli troops leave.
The prime minister has proposed populating the Philadelphi Corridor with Israeli army posts connected by patrol roads. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told Bloomberg TV on Sept. 4 that efforts by Egypt to secure the border have so far been insufficient. He said Israel would be open to negotiating over the area during the second phase of the proposed deal, when hostilities are meant to end entirely.
The Return of Hostages
Of approximately 250 people Hamas seized as hostages in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, 97 remain in captivity after others were repatriated in a November truce or were recovered — dead or alive — by Israeli forces. Israel also wants the return of two civilians and two soldiers missing in Gaza since 2014. Of the 101 total, around a third have been declared dead by Israel.
Biden’s May proposal calls for Hamas, in the first phase of the deal, to release the remaining women, elderly or infirm hostages. Israel has put their number at between 30 and 40. According to Netanyahu, Egyptian and Qatari mediators at first said Hamas could deliver 12 hostages in those categories, a number that has since risen to 23.
Israeli officials have said that at least 30 hostages must be released in the first phase, even if it means Hamas freeing some male soldiers or civilian men under the age of 51. Hamas has given no indication of agreeing to this demand.
At least three of the six hostages found dead on Sept. 1 — after being executed by Hamas shortly before, according to Israel — would have qualified for release in the first phase.
The Release of Palestinian Prisoners
Israel, whose prisons hold around 10,000 Palestinians who’ve been accused or convicted of terrorism, freed around 240 mostly teenage inmates as part of the November truce, and it has acknowledged that further releases would be required to liberate additional hostages.
Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Sept. 1 that his group initially demanded that Israel release 500 Palestinian security prisoners for every captive Israeli soldier it frees and 250 for every civilian hostage. This was then adjusted to 50 prisoners for each of the five female soldiers held captive, and 30 prisoners for every civilian hostage, Al-Hayya said. Netanyahu told reporters on Sept. 4 that Israel and Hamas had yet to agree on a hostage-to-prisoner ratio.
There’s the additional issue of which Palestinian prisoners might be released. Any inclusion on the roster of those held for major terrorist attacks would likely be opposed by far-rightists who are key to Netanyahu’s governing coalition. The prime minister told reporters there’s been no agreement in the cease-fire talks on whether Israel would have the right to veto specific inmates as too dangerous to release or to exile them rather than sending them home.
The Netzarim Corridor
The May proposal calls for Palestinian civilians displaced by fighting in northern Gaza, formerly the hub of Hamas governance, to be allowed to return to the once-populous area during the first phase of the truce. Israel agreed, but wants a mechanism to prevent armed fighters from returning among the civilians.
During the course of the war, the Israeli military has established what it calls the Netzarim Corridor, a narrow stretch of land dividing northern from southern Gaza that its troops use to control movement between the two. Israel proposes to continue that arrangement, or get the mediators to provide a suitable alternative, whereas Hamas wants a total Israeli withdrawal and no restrictions on Palestinian movement.
--With assistance from Fares Akram and Fadwa Hodali.
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