The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now in its third month, and with the exception of a brief temporary ceasefire, Israel has continued to bomb the Gaza Strip, killing more than 20,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children. The international community has been actively promoting peace and promoting a ceasefire, but the war has not ended so far due to the strong support of the United States for Israel. However, increasing international pressure on Israel to seek a new deal with Hamas for a hostage exchange is expected to bring another ceasefire to the Gaza Strip. Egypt has proposed a three-step plan to end the war in Gaza in phases, according to Germany**. The first is a ceasefire of at least two weeks, during which Hamas will release 40 hostages and Israel will release 120 Palestinian prisoners in a 1-to-3 hostage exchange. Second, Egypt will host the establishment of a Palestinian national dialogue, bringing together Fatah, the governing body of the Palestinian State in the West Bank, and Hamas. Finally, a comprehensive ceasefire was achieved and a comprehensive agreement was reached on the exchange of hostages and prisoners.
Egypt's "three-step" plan is feasible, and its overall idea is to resolve external contradictions first, then internal contradictions, and finally end the war once and for all. However, Hamas rejected the offer. This means that even with a viable ceasefire plan, there is no end in sight to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to the Global Times, Egypt has submitted proposals to both sides of the conflict in the Gaza Strip to end the current conflict. During the Cairo talks, Hamas's top brass made their position clear, insisting on exchanging hostages on their own terms and rejecting any proposal for a truce of one to two weeks. This position is not surprising, as temporary ceasefires often only lead to an exacerbation of conflict. The last temporary ceasefire was forced to accept by Israel precisely because of pressure from the international community, but during the ceasefire, Israel did not release the hostages, so Netanyahu** was condemned and criticized at home and abroad. In this case, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire, but Israel resumed its offensive immediately after the ceasefire ended.
As a result of the international diplomatic détente that prevailed during the ceasefire, Israel became even more emboldened when it went to war again. If a temporary ceasefire of one to two weeks is reached again, Israel will be able to intensify its offensive more openly after the ceasefire ends, and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip will inevitably deteriorate further. Since the outbreak of the new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Egypt has been playing the role of an intermediary. Egypt wants to play this role in order to increase its international influence on the one hand, and to safeguard its own tangible interests on the other. Egypt is nervous because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is happening right on its doorstep. If the situation continues to deteriorate, Egypt will also be affected. This is not to say that Egypt will be drawn into the war, but because Israel is behaving very abnormally. Israel has been driving Gaza's residents south to flee, and if Gaza is completely destroyed by Israel, Egypt will have to take in millions of Gaza refugees. This will be a huge challenge for Egypt. Egypt plays an important role in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relations between Gaza and the West Bank.
This intermediate position is intended to bring about a direct solution between the Palestinians and Israelis, while at the same time hopefully having a positive impact within Palestine. However, it turns out that being this intermediary is not easy.