The death of six members of Ismail Haniyeh’s family will not change Hamas’s belief that it is in the “driving seat” of ceasefire negotiations, says a security expert.
“The assumption is that this [reported attack on Haniyeh’s family] is designed to put pressure on Hamas to agree to a new hostage deal,” he says.
“What I’ve been hearing over the past 36 hours or so is that Hamas are inclined to reject a new ceasefire deal because, quite honestly, they think they are in the driving seat at the moment.”
Israel has removed nearly all of its troops from Gaza, so the military pressure has lessened significantly, Bunkall assessed, before adding that the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers means that there’s a lot more humanitarian aid going into Gaza as well – a further positive for Hamas.
“Haniyeh himself said… [if targeting his family] is a tactic that the Israelis are trying to use, it is delusional,” Bunkall said.
Leave a Reply