The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the Israeli leadership received “optimistic messages” about the possibility of reaching a prisoner exchange deal in the near future.
The Israeli government decided to exhaust the pressure exerted on Hamas, in an attempt to push it to agree to an exchange deal under a temporary ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
The Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday that the Israeli negotiating team conveyed to the political leadership, in a meeting held on Sunday night, “optimistic messages,” stating that “Hamas is interested in reaching a prisoner deal in Ramadan and in the near future, and at the same time seeks to ignite the situation on the ground in Israel and the West Bank.” Western”.
For its part, the “Walla” website quoted three informed sources as saying that the war cabinet decided “to exhaust the pressure exerted by the Qatari and Egyptian mediators on the Hamas movement to push it to agree to the framework of the proposed prisoner exchange agreement. It was also decided not to expand the powers of the negotiating team at this stage.”
The website reported that Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and the commissioner for prisoners and missing persons affairs, Nitzan Alon, recommended that the war cabinet “wait a few more days, to examine whether Hamas would provide a new response that would allow progress toward more serious and detailed negotiations on an exchange deal.”
The report stated that the Egyptian and Qatari mediators held meetings with Hamas officials, following the talks held by CIA Director William Burns in Cairo and Doha in recent days, and exerted “additional pressure” on the movement in an attempt to advance the negotiations.
The report stated that the mediators “informed the Israeli side of the efforts made, and asked Tel Aviv not to take any action and wait to see whether the efforts will bear fruit.”
During the war cabinet meeting, the head of the Mossad considered that “it is better to wait two or three days until we see the results of the mediators’ pressure.”
For his part, Alon recommended waiting a few days before taking any action in this regard, while stressing the necessity of “expanding the powers of the negotiating team” if the pressures of the mediators do not lead to a change in the position of Hamas officials, in light of the “increasing threat to the lives of the detained Israeli hostages.” in Gaza.
The broadcaster confirmed that the war cabinet refuses at this stage to expand the powers of the negotiating team, which displeased Minister Gadi Eisenkot, who believes that there is a need to “expand the powers of the team,” stressing that this falls within “Israeli interests.”
#Israel #received #optimistic #messages #agreement #soon…and #Hamas #interested #deal #Ramadan
2024-03-11 19:40:10
