Thousands of settlers demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Sunday against Netanyahu’s government, demanding “an end to the war on Gaza and the return of the prisoners.” The demonstrators demanded that Netanyahu step down from his position because of what they described as “the miserable failure suffered by the Israeli army in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.”
On Sunday, the Israeli occupation army announced that 212 families had been informed that their children were being held captive by the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. During a press conference, occupation army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, “The number is not final, as the army is verifying new information about the missing,” without further information.
The “Al-Qassam Brigades” (the military wing of the Hamas movement) announced earlier that, on October 7, it captured between 200 and 250 Israelis, including high-ranking soldiers, and wanted to exchange them with more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, in Israeli occupation prisons.
In this context, Bloomberg quoted informed officials as saying that Israel decided to support diplomatic efforts to release prisoners held by the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, which may delay the ground operation in Gaza.
Citing the same sources, she indicated that Israel supports diplomatic efforts to persuade Hamas to release prisoners from Gaza quickly and in large numbers.
The agency stated that the Americans conveyed to the Qataris that Israel would need much more than what is currently happening in terms of releases to influence an imminent ground operation.
The officials said the shape of the ground operation could change if “hostage diplomacy” keeps Israel at bay for longer and conditions on the ground change. They added that Israel informed Washington that it would not wait long to begin the ground operation in Gaza.
The issue of prisoners held by Hamas and the resistance took on a new dimension after Al-Qassam released “two American hostages” on Friday after Qatari mediation.
Abu Ubaida, the Phalange’s military spokesman, announced yesterday that the Israeli government had refused to receive “two Israeli hostages” whom the Phalange had decided to release for humanitarian reasons.
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2023-10-23 05:37:13
