Macron urges the Lebanese to avoid being dragged into war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to destroy the Hamas movement, “above and below the ground,” and to return all those kidnapped in the Gaza Strip, on the fifth day of the humanitarian truce, which includes the exchange of the fifth batch of prisoners and detainees between Israel and Hamas, a day also marked by efforts American – Qatari – Egyptian to extend the ceasefire and expand the volume of exchange.

Netanyahu, who visited the Military Intelligence Service’s technical information collection unit, said: “We are committed to completing our tasks; “Releasing all the kidnapped people, destroying Hamas above and below the ground, and ensuring that Gaza will never pose a threat to Israel.”

Netanyahu’s speech came after a call he had with the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, in Doha, where he arrived to meet with the Director of the CIA, William Burns, and the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani, to discuss war, truce, and deals. Exchange. Cairo News TV reported that the head of Egyptian intelligence is also participating in the ongoing discussions in Qatar regarding the continuation of the truce.

A senior Israeli official said that Barnea’s visit to Qatar comes within the framework of Israeli efforts aimed at “releasing more Israeli citizens (in Gaza), within the framework of the current armistice agreement.”

Israel wants to proceed with a humanitarian truce for up to 10 days, during which it will recover all the women and children, and then resume the war with greater force in order to force Hamas to conclude a deal about the captured soldiers, but Hamas wants a longer truce and is ready for a comprehensive deal that includes stopping the war, on the condition Whitewashing Israeli prisons of Palestinian prisoners.

Sources close to Hamas told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement is working to reach all the women and children in Gaza, and hand them over until all the children and women are finished in Israeli prisons, then move on to releasing the elderly and other civilians, in exchange for prisoners and an extended truce. The issue of the soldiers will be left aside unless there is a major agreement that includes the release of all Palestinian detainees, especially those serving life sentences, and an end to the war.

In this context, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday that the American-Israeli-Egyptian-Qatari discussions in Doha initially focused on extending the truce in Gaza for another three days in exchange for the release of ten detainees in the Gaza Strip every day. The newspaper added, quoting senior Egyptian officials, saying that they are pressing with Qatar to implement a longer truce in the hope of developing it into a permanent ceasefire, and that the next stages of releasing detainees after women and children include elderly men, followed by the handing over of the bodies of deceased detainees. The newspaper quoted an American official as saying that the American side stressed the necessity of maintaining the current level of aid entry or increasing it when the truce ends.

According to the newspaper, Egyptian and Qatari officials stressed the importance of pressing to begin talks on a permanent truce that would completely end the war. The officials said that any long-term ceasefire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make concessions that are difficult to accept, such as exchanging Israeli soldiers for numbers of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons that may reach thousands. The officials said that this would require Israel to curb its attack on southern Gaza with the aim of controlling the Strip and eliminating the senior leadership of Hamas. But officials said the current temporary truce is working to build the kind of trust needed to move forward.

The resumption of war is a matter of time

With a point at which negotiations will become extremely complex, both sides realize that it is only a matter of time before the war resumes.

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy confirmed on Tuesday that “the Israeli army is preparing to continue fighting in Gaza,” and that it is “taking advantage of the days of the period of temporary suspension of military activities to learn, enhance readiness, and approve operational plans for the subsequent stages.”

He added in a recorded speech: “So far, 76 abductees have been returned to their homes. But there are children, girls, women, civilians, and male and female soldiers who were kidnapped by Hamas, a cruel and merciless terrorist organization, and who have not yet returned. We feel very relieved that every kidnapped person has returned, but it worries us that a number remain there. We will work to bring them all back.”

He added: “The return of the kidnapped people is a point of light for all of us. It is also another testimony to the results of the great military pressure and high-quality ground maneuvers, with which we created the conditions for the return of our citizens to their homes. We will continue to do so.”

Before reaching the point of resuming the war, the United States made clear to Israel that it must refrain, to the greatest extent possible, from displacing Palestinians from their homes while it expands the war to the south of the Gaza Strip. An official source in the administration said in a briefing to journalists the night before last: “The scale of displacement that we have witnessed cannot be repeated, because there is no humanitarian aid system capable of meeting the need that may arise.” He stressed that the United States wants Hamas not to pose a threat to Israel, but the battle in the south must be managed differently.

The truce is on its fifth day

The fifth day of the truce witnessed the completion of the fifth exchange batch. This batch includes the “Al-Qassam Brigades” handing over Israeli detainees to the Red Cross on Tuesday night, noting that the names of 30 Palestinian prisoners (15 women and 15 children) have been published, most of them from Jerusalem (20) and the rest from the West Bank. They are supposed to be released by midnight on Tuesday-Wednesday.

The exchange deal is supposed to be repeated on Wednesday with the same numbers (10 Israelis versus 30 Palestinians), despite the fact that the truce has witnessed unprecedented violations.

The Al-Qassam Brigades announced, on Tuesday, that field friction had occurred in the northern Gaza Strip, between its fighters and the Israeli army, due to its “violation” of the temporary humanitarian truce between the two parties. She added: “Our fighters dealt with this breach.”

The Israeli occupation forces shot four Palestinians, one of them seriously, in Gaza City, while they were trying to return to their homes to inspect them, in the Al-Nasr and Sheikh Radwan neighborhoods.

But the Israeli army spokesman accused Hamas of “violating” the temporary ceasefire in two different incidents, where three explosive devices were detonated in the northern Gaza Strip, near Israeli army forces, and in one case, the force was also fired upon. The army admitted that a number of soldiers were slightly injured.