Written by: Nihal Abu Al-Saud Wednesday, November 8, 2023 01:00 PM
Axios revealed that US President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call to agree to a three-day ceasefire to allow progress in releasing some prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance.
An American official said that according to the proposal being discussed between the United States and Israel, the Palestinian resistance factions will release 10-15 hostages and use the three-day pause to verify the identities of all hostages and provide a list of the names of the prisoners.
A source told “Axios” that Netanyahu told Biden that he does not trust the intentions of the Palestinian resistance factions and does not believe that they will agree to a deal regarding the prisoners. Israeli officials added that Tel Aviv may lose the current international support it enjoys for the operation if the fighting stops for three days.
An Israeli official told Axios that part of Netanyahu’s reticence was because resistance factions attacked a group of Israeli soldiers, kidnapped one of them, and killed several others during a humanitarian truce during the 2014 war. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.
A senior US official told reporters on Friday that the indirect and complex nature of hostage negotiations made it difficult to make progress in the talks.
The report indicated that CIA Director Bill Burns is in the Middle East this week and part of his focus is the release of hostages. He held talks in Israel.
After meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv on Friday, Netanyahu rejected the US request for a humanitarian truce and said Israel would not agree to a temporary ceasefire unless the hostages were released.
An Israeli official said that Netanyahu does not believe that a significant period of ceasefire is needed to release such a small number of prisoners.
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2023-11-08 11:00:00
