The draft agreement between Israel and Hamas to stop the war in the Gaza Strip is the best since the start of the negotiations, and “its acceptance is imminent,” a high-ranking Arab official told Sky News Arabia.
The official anonymously expressed fears that “both parties can make a 180-degree turn and return to square one.”
He explained, "The private calculations of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some Hamas leaders complicate the political decision to approve the long-awaited deal."
The official warned that "Netanyahu, for his political reasons, may reject the agreement even if the offer presented by Hamas meets Israeli conditions well."
Representatives from Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States met in Cairo on Saturday for talks on a possible hostage deal. At the same time, Israel delayed sending a delegation until the terror group gave a response to the latest proposal on the table.
Channel 12 reported that the US had given Hamas a guarantee that the deal would lead to the end of the war.
An Israeli diplomatic source emphasized that Israel was determined to continue the war, irrespective of any hostage deal.
Reports that “Israel agreed to the end of the war as part of a hostage deal or that Israel would allow the mediators to provide guarantees for the end of the war are not true,” the source stated.
“Up to this moment, Hamas has not given up its demand for an end to the war, thus thwarting the possibility of reaching an agreement,” the source said.
Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.