Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will return to fighting in the Gaza Strip as soon as “the stage of returning the hostages is exhausted,” stressing that “this issue has been settled,” in his apparent response to reports about American, Qatari, and Egyptian efforts for a broad agreement that includes… A final ceasefire, and a comprehensive prisoner exchange deal.
Netanyahu came out in a video in which he said that he set three goals from the beginning of the war: eliminating Hamas, the return of all kidnapped Israelis in Gaza, and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel, and “these three goals still exist.”
Netanyahu added: “During the last week, we achieved a very major achievement, which is the return of dozens of kidnapped people. A week ago this seemed surreal, but we made it happen. But in recent days, I hear a question: After the current stage of returning our abductees is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? So, my answer is definitely yes. We cannot return to fighting until the end. This is my policy and this is the policy that the entire cabinet supports, and the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, and the people stand behind it, and this is what we will do in particular.”
This position of Netanyahu coincided with the position of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who said: “Very soon we will continue the ground operation throughout Gaza until the enemy is defeated.”
Netanyahu and Gallant’s statements came at a time when active discussions are taking place involving Qatar, the United States, Egypt, Israel and Hamas in order to extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which entered its sixth day on Wednesday.
The Washington Post newspaper said that during the talks held in Qatar regarding extending the truce for a longer period in Gaza and the possibility of conducting a new exchange deal, where the head of the Israeli Mossad, David Barnea, and the head of the CIA, William Burns, met with the Qatari mediators, five categories were agreed upon. Of the captive hostages who could be released in future deals. The five categories are: men who have passed the age of service in the army, female soldiers, reserve men, men in regular service, and the bodies of Israelis who were killed even before their capture or died during captivity.
According to the report, the number of prisoners belonging to these categories exceeds 100 people. Israel and Hamas confirmed that they were interested in exchange deals.
The representative of the Hamas movement in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said that there is “a possibility of extending the ceasefire for additional days on two levels.” “The humanitarian level, which includes releasing the largest possible number of prisoners, and the political level related to how to end the war and the siege on the Gaza Strip.” An Israeli political official responded: “It depends on Hamas’ behavior.”
But there is a big difference in the way the two sides believe things can move forward.
Hamas wants to whitewash the Israeli prisons on the basis of “all for all” and stop the war, which is the only price currently offered for the Israeli soldiers detained by it, but in Israel they do not want to end the war by giving Hamas a major victory like whitewashing the prisons, and they do not intend to end the war now. . A senior Israeli official said, “There is no proposal for a deal that includes all for all.” He added: “Hamas wants an end to the war, and this will not happen.”
In light of this discrepancy, the only possible course during the next few days is for Hamas to release more women and children in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners of the same category on the basis of “1 Israeli for every 3 Palestinians… and a truce day for every 10 kidnapped.”
A source close to the Hamas movement said that the movement is prepared to extend the ceasefire in Gaza for another four days and to continue releasing Israeli prisoners in exchange for the release of Palestinian security prisoners.
Israel believes that there are up to 83 women and 10 children detained by Palestinian factions.
On Monday, the Israeli government approved the names of 50 additional female prisoners who could be considered for release if Hamas releases 20 more Israeli hostages in the coming days.
In the first four days of the truce, Hamas released a total of 30 Israeli children and 20 Israeli women, then released 10 kidnapped persons on Tuesday, and 10 others on Wednesday.
By Wednesday evening, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” are supposed to have handed over 10 Israelis to the Red Cross, in exchange for Israel’s release of 15 children and 15 women, including 7 women from the 1948 regions.
Before the Israelis were released, Hamas released two other hostages who held Russian citizenship and were outside the exchange agreement. Hamas said that in response to the efforts of the Russian President, it released two detainees holding Russian citizenship, and they were handed over to the Red Cross as a prelude to handing them over to representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
As the truce lasted into its sixth day, and Gazans hoped it would last, violations continued, and medical sources announced the recovery of the bodies of two young men who were killed by occupation bullets near the public security zone north of Gaza City.
The occupation forces fired live bullets at citizens in Gaza City while they were trying to return to their destroyed homes in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza. They also fired artillery shells at citizens in the western areas of Gaza City, specifically in the Al-Nasr, Sheikh Radwan, and Sheikh Ajlin neighborhoods.
The occupation boats also attacked citizens’ homes in the areas west of Khan Yunis, Al-Shati Camp, Sheikh Radwan, and other adjacent areas facing the coast of the Gaza Strip, without any casualties being reported.
In a later development, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that three of its Israeli prisoners were killed in a previous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip. Al-Qassam reported, in a brief military report, that “three detainees were killed as a result of a previous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.” She explained that the dead were: Sherry Silverman Bibas, Kfir Bibas, and Ariel Bibas.
The Israeli military responded that it was “examining (Hamas’) claims that Shiri Bibas and her two children, 10-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel, are no longer alive.”
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2023-11-29 17:33:50
