https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/world/middleeast/gaza-cease-fire-talks-timeline.html?smid=url-share

Here is a timeline of the recent twists and turns in the cease-fire talks.
May 6, 2024

Within the course of mere days, hopes for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip have been raised, dashed and raised again, with no clear explanation.

The confusion was perhaps never more evident than on Monday, when Hamas claimed to have accepted the terms of a truce deal even as Israel — a week after making concessions in the hope of an agreement — was ordering civilians in the southern Gazan city of Rafah to evacuate and escalating its airstrikes there.

Here is a look at the recent dizzying turn of events.

Monday, April 29
Israeli officials, offering a hint of hope for a deal, said that their negotiators had reduced the number of hostages they wanted Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce.

Thursday, May 2
A Hamas leader said that the group would soon send a delegation to Cairo to “complete ongoing discussions” on a cease-fire deal.

Saturday, May 4
With talks underway, a senior Hamas official said in a text message that the group’s representatives had arrived in Cairo for the talks, “with great positivity” toward the latest proposal.

Sunday, May 5
The talks — which are held indirectly, through mediators — hit an impasse, and Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo. An Israeli official described the negotiations as in “crisis.”

Late in the day, Hamas launched rockets at a border crossing between Gaza and Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers. Israel stepped up its attacks in Gaza.

Monday, May 6
Hamas said it accepted the terms of a cease-fire — not as laid out in Israel’s proposal, but drawn from one put forth by Egypt and Qatar.

The timing appeared noteworthy. The announcement was made after Israel had ordered people to evacuate from some areas in Rafah, a sign that Israeli forces might be close to launching a long-anticipated invasion of the refugee-packed city. Late in the day, the Israeli military said it was carrying out “targeted strikes” on in eastern Rafah.

The strikes may prove to be an attempt to turn up the pressure on Hamas negotiators. Late in the day, in keeping with a week of contradictory signals, the Israeli prime minister’s office said that Hamas’s latest cease-fire proposal was unsatisfactory.

Then it said would send a working-level delegation back to the talks in Cairo anyway.

with Home confinement. 

LOL.  Like that would work.

Still waiting, @banddag

Why should the US government subsidize the battery industry when hydrogen tanks are lighter, cheaper, lower maintenance, and have further range?

Now now, let's think about this one for a moment.  What if we subsidize the firearms industry.  Everyone in America should be able to have an AR-15 at low cost.  So the government should pay out huge subsidies to make that happen.  Other countries do it, right?  We should take the lead from China and France.

AP Updates
6:40 PM EDT

Hamas publishes the cease-fire proposal it agreed to

BEIRUT — Hamas has published a copy of the cease-fire and hostage release proposal that the militant group said it had agreed to on Monday.

The framework brought forward by Qatar and Egypt aims to bring a halt to seven months of war in Gaza. However, it’s unclear if Israel will agree to the terms.

The proposal outlines a phased release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza alongside the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave and ending with a “sustainable calm” or “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”

Israel has previously said it would not agree to either a full withdrawal of its forces or a permanent cease-fire as part of a hostage release deal.

The first stage would last 42 days and would involve a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of about 33 hostages held in the territory, including the remaining Israeli women — both civilians and soldiers — as well as children, older adults and people who are ill.

Thirty Palestinian prisoners held in Israel would be released in exchange for each Israeli civilian hostage and 50 in exchange for each female soldier.

Palestinians displaced in Gaza would be allowed to return to their home neighborhoods during that time.

The parties would then negotiate the terms of the next stage, under which the remaining civilian men and soldiers would be released, while Israeli forces would withdraw from the rest of Gaza. This phase would be conditioned on achievement of a “sustainable calm.”

The final stage would involve exchange of the bodies of hostages who died in captivity and the beginning of a reconstruction plan for the enclave that would take place over three to five years “under the supervision of a number of countries and organizations, including: Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.”