There is a sizeable gap between the ceasefire deal that Hamas has agreed to, and the demands laid down by the Israeli government.
The question is whether Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to negotiate.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been holding talks with Hamas in their latest effort to broker a ceasefire, and, according to senior diplomats, Hamas has agreed to a deal in which half the hostages held in Gaza will be freed in return for Israel releasing some Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has been clear that he wants all the hostages back in one go, Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip and the installation of a new government that is neither Hamas nor – crucially – the Palestinian Authority (PA).
And on that point, as well as the others, a row looms.
The PA, which is the governing body of the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, seems to have been far more closely involved in these negotiations than Hamas.
The ceasefire proposal is likely to suggest that, after the removal of Hamas, Gaza would be controlled by a committee overseen by the PA.
For Israel to agree that would require a significant political change of heart – not something that has been Netanyahu’s speciality.
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His decision now rests between competing forces.
The chunk of the Israeli public that has just held a nationwide strike, calling for the war to the end.
And those, including members of his cabinet, who think that Israel needs to wholly subjugate, if not entirely occupy, Gaza in order to either maintain its safety or fulfil its historic destiny.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
