TEHRAN- The Israeli regime is under increasing pressure to accept another ceasefire. According to the Washington Post, citing Israeli and American sources, the regime is mulling a two-week ceasefire to free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli captives. 

There are three main reasons for this. 

Firstly, the Palestinian resistance is inflicting heavy losses on the regime's ground forces. Both Israeli troops are being killed, and tanks are being bombed. 

On an almost daily basis now, the Israeli army is announcing the fatalities of its ground soldiers. 

On Wednesday, it said that at least two Israeli troops had been killed. 

At least three others had been killed on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military. 

It brings the number of occupation troops killed in the Gaza Strip to more than 135 since the regime waged a ground offensive. 

Nearly 500 Israeli soldiers have been killed since 7 October. 

Thousands of others have sustained injuries, with many hospitalized in serious condition, according to Israeli media. 

This highlights the strength of the Palestinian resistance, 75 days after the regime launched its devastating war on the Gaza Strip. 

Reports say since dawn on Wednesday, the Palestinian resistance has been waging fierce battles against the Israeli occupation forces in several areas across the entire Gaza Strip, from Khan Yunis in the south to the Jabalia camp in the north. 

Under the frequency of Israeli massacres and indiscriminate bombings to enter the Jabalia camp for weeks now from the western side, the Israeli army has failed and retreated to the eastern and northern outskirts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. 

The Palestinian resistance remains steadfast, strong, and intact. 

This leads to the second point that in the face of this resilient resistance, the regime and its staunchest ally the United States have come to the conclusion that Israeli captives will not be rescued under military offensives. 

The Israeli army has killed three Israeli captives despite the fact they were holding a white flag of surrender and shirtless, triggering angry protests in Tel Aviv. 

Israeli captives have only been released safely through negotiations and ceasefires. 

Hamas has confirmed its head of the political bureau Ismail Haniyeh has arrived in Egypt, for potential mediation talks over a possible second captive-ceasefire deal.  

"This Wednesday morning, the Mujahid brother Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to hold discussions with Egyptian officials about developments in the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip and many other files," a Hamas statement read.  

The statement did not confirm whether he was set to discuss Israeli captives specifically, but senior Israeli officials, including the head of the regime's intelligence service Mossad, are said to be in Cairo for that purpose. 

Discussions in Egypt between the Israeli regime and Hamas via mediators are said to be "intense", with envoys reportedly focusing on which captives and prisoners would be released if a ceasefire deal is agreed on, according to sources. 

There are conflicting reports about the nature of the talks with a view to who and how many Israeli captives will be released and how many Palestinian prisoners will freed in exchange. 

The number of people slated to go free has not yet been decided, one source said.  

The previous ceasefire deal saw over 100 Hamas-held captives exchanged for some 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.  

Reports suggest a deal is being presented to Hamas through Qatari mediators, with a view to see if the group will accept the terms and conditions. 

The third reason why the regime is under pressure to accept a ceasefire deal is the rising attacks by Yemen's Ansarullah, over the past month, in the Red Sea. 
This embargo by Ansarullah on commercial ships destined for the Israeli ports was something completely unforeseen by the United States and has come as a shock. 

Cargo ships have been forced to travel around Africa, raising the costs of shipping, insurance prices, delays to destinations, and, more importantly, the potential rise in the price of oil. 

It has led major shipping firms to avoid the Red Sea and even after forming a U.S.-led maritime alliance of a few countries? to secure the waterways, more shipping companies have announced they are diverting their ships away from the Red Sea. 

Experts say the Pentagon is aware this alliance will fail to prevent Ansarullah from targeting warships and vessels with drones and missiles? as the movement has vowed to continue to do so. 

One of the reasons why this U.S.-led alliance will fail is because no Arab or Islamic state, with exception of Bahrain, has joined the group. 
Analysts say Bahrain lacks any powerful naval force to contribute to the coalition of mostly Western states. 

Reports suggest that the U.S. even offered some incentives to Ansarullah through Omani mediators to end its attacks in the Red Sea, something the movement resolutely rejected.  Ansarullah has said it will do so only if Israel ends its indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza and allows humanitarian aid to the blockaded enclave. 
The U.S. had pinned hopes on Saudi Arabia and Egypt which border the Red Sea to join the alliance, but they refused to do so. 

This makes it clear that the Islamic and Arab worlds are, in public at least, in support of Ansarullah's measures in the Red Sea. 

They also don't want to get involved in a messy conflict with Yemen's Ansarullah, which survived eight years of the U.S.-backed Saudi-led war and is now pounding Israeli military positions in the occupied Palestinian occupied as well as in the Red Sea. 

The U.S. was desperate to include Arab and Islamic countries in this small coalition in a bid to portray the alliance as not taking any sides with the Israeli regime but purely focused on the Red Sea. 

The reality is that Ansarullah's attacks are only aimed at ships loading and unloading in Israeli ports and it is fully committed to free navigation. 

This is reflective of the vast majority of the international community, as seen in the latest UN General Assembly resolution, where only ten members, including the U.S. and the Israeli regime, voted against an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. 

There are now increasing reports and sources suggesting that the U.S. is putting intense pressure on the regime to end its war on Gaza within weeks as oil prices may rise from $70 per barrel to $100, $200 and even $300 dollars should the war widen to Yemen. 

This is the last thing that Joe Biden wants to see, with a presidential election on the horizon.