As Hamas, Netanyahu 'accept' US plan, Sinwar 'riding high,' far from surrender

Analysis

Ben Caspit

Jun 11, 2024

Cars drive past a billboard bearing an inscription in Hebrew which reads 'think well of who benefits from our division - unity now', with a portrait of the head of the political wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, in Tel Aviv on April 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Palestinian territory. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images) — Cars drive past a billboard bearing an inscription in Hebrew that reads, "Think well of who benefits from our division: unity now," with the head of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in Tel Aviv on April 26, 2024. — JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

TEL AVIV — The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution Monday urging Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region to promote the peace plan.

Blinken told reporters Tuesday that Netanyahu had agreed to the cease-fire plan, while Reuters reported, citing a senior Hamas official, that the group also accepted the UN resolution backing the plan. However, the details still need to be negotiated and Israel or Hamas would need to actually finalize it.

More than eight months after the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, Israel is a long way from the "total victory" to which it aspires, while Hamas is closer to its goals than Israel is to its own.

On the battlefield, Israel has scored impressive victories, slowly eroding Hamas' centers of power, dismantling almost all its battalions (fewer than three from a total of over 20 are left) and assuming control over the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt that has been the site of the smuggling that allowed Hamas' buildup.