Along with the ongoing dispute over whether Hamas is doing all it can to return the bodies of deceased hostages, the trapped Hamas fighters are also proving to be a diplomatic stumbling block, preventing the sides from moving on to larger issues: Israel wants the fighters to turn over their weapons and surrender; Hamas wants them to be given safe passage back to Hamas-controlled territory; the Trump administration wants the whole thing to go away. The fate of the fighters is also an irresistible metaphor for the status of the ceasefire as a whole: They’re currently in an untenable situation — but are stuck in place by the fear that whatever move they make might lead to something worse. At the moment, the biggest threat in the region may be inertia: Grim as the status quo is, the current leaders of both Hamas and Israel seem to prefer it to moving forward with a political process that would leave Hamas disarmed, politically neutered, and replaced with a Palestinian Authority in a more credible position to demand statehood.
Author: Joshua Keating
Published at: 2025-11-17 23:04:39
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