On July 23, Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was set to meet with Israeli and Qatari officials to discuss a potential comprehensive ceasefire agreement, and said that the negotiations were in the final stretch. The deal under discussion was expected to include an initial 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinian prisoners by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting ceasefire.
Then, on July 24, Witkoff’s team cut short their trip after Hamas made new demands that were widely viewed as unrealistic, and designed to scuttle the talks. “We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza,” Witkoff said.
The terror group was likely buoyed by what it saw as a diplomatic win when a statement by Foreign Ministers of two dozen EU states was released demanding that Israel makes unilateral concessions on ending the war, while increasing aid to Gaza via the old international mechanisms and NGOs that Hamas had exploited to fund their military operations. The statement included only a throat-clearing call for the hostages’ release, rather than a definitive demand that Israeli concessions would be contingent on the hostages release and the terror group laying down its harms.
Sensing it had the upper hand, Hamas also began what turned out to be an extremely successful campaign to promote the narrative of starvation in Gaza – proving again that they’d rather score a public relations win than reach a deal with Israel that would have alleviated the suffering of Palestinians in the territory.
To observe that their starvation campaign worked is an understatement, as it was arguably the single biggest factor behind the decision by the UK, France and Canada to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
To be clear, when we call it a starvation “narrative”, this isn’t to suggest that there isn’t a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There is one. There’s also – as in most war zones – extreme food insecurity. However, as Andrew Fox wrote, based on his recent fact-finding trip to the territory, the situation there is far more complex than the Hamas narrative would suggest, with the factors behind food shortages having more to do with war-related logistical problems, most of which are exacerbated by the cynical decisions of Hamas, including the continued theft of (non-GHF channeled) aid by terrorists, as well as looters and other armed actors.