Israel expected to ignore Egypt-Qatar Gaza ceasefire plan
Israel is expected to ignore the Egypt-Qatar ceasefire proposal and opt to continue with plans to fully occupy Gaza city, according to The New Arab on August 26th.
Sources close to the ceasefire negotiations told Israel’s Channel 13 that the government has told mediators that the war will only end once Hamas accepts Israel’s full demands. These include the release of all hostages, full disarmament and Hamas’ departure from Gaza.
Hamas agreed to the ceasefire proposal, as announced by Senior Hamas official Basem Naim on August 18th. The proposal is modelled on US envoy Steve Witkoff’s earlier plan that stipulated a 60-day pause in fighting to facilitate a prisoner swap. The Witkoff plan was accepted by Israel in May 2025 but rejected by Hamas. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since reversed his position and refuted the Witkoff plan.
The Egypt-Qatar ceasefire proposal, which requires that Hamas release roughly half of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza, has not yet received any official response from the Israeli government, despite them receiving it at the same time as Hamas.
Instead, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved a plan on August 20th for the military to fully occupy Gaza City, displacing thousands of Palestinians to the south of the territory in the process.
According to Channel 13, the proposal is not expected to be discussed by government ministers during the next cabinet meeting.
The report emerged amid vast protests within Israel that sought to pressure the government into agreeing to a ceasefire. According to The Guardian on August 25th, a growing number of conscientious objectors in Israel are refusing to “be part of the war machine”, choosing jail over mandatory military service.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has thwarted several ceasefire deals that would have facilitated the release of Israeli hostages. Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department under President Joe Biden, revealed that Hamas was willing to release “some hostages” at the start of the war, according to Middle East Eye on August 23rd.
He said that the US had “been trying to get through to the government of Israel to tell them that”, however state department officials could not get any of the Israeli leadership to take the opportunity seriously, despite the primary stated motive for Israel’s war being the release of the hostages.
Netanyahu has also rejected any potential involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the future administration of Gaza – likely in an effort to obstruct the potential for a future Palestinian state to materialise. He has not offered any suggestions of an alternative governing body that Israel would allow to take power.
The New Arab, Maghrebi.org, CNN, The Guardian, Middle East Eye
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