An Israeli official sought to temper expectations on Monday as negotiators flew to Qatar to continue working on a potential hostage deal, telling The Times of Israel that there is not necessarily cause for optimism.
“We need to be careful,” said the official. “We are still talking to ourselves.” ...
The main gap, the second Israeli official told The Times of Israel, is “the end of fighting, the IDF leaving the Gaza Strip.”
I warned about that in another Headline entry over the weekend. All of this can be explained by incentives: If Hamas gives up the hostages, the Israelis will have no incentives against a full-scale assault on remaining Hamas positions. If Israel withdraws from Gaza, Hamas will be incentivized to declare victory and begin planning the annihilation of Israel. This is an unresolvable situation absent one side capitulating to the other. Until that happens, both sides are only talking to themselves.
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