2024-02-15 00:08:39
Israel is demanding Hamas give in before further negotiations on a new ceasefire in Gaza and the release of more hostages. Israel will not give in to the Islamist organization’s “delusional demands,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. According to Israeli media, he is refusing to send a delegation back to Cairo on Thursday, where negotiations by international mediators were scheduled to continue.
Relatives of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza were “stunned” by Netanyahu’s refusal and spoke of a “death sentence.” It appears that some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have decided to “sacrifice the lives of the hostages without admitting it,” the Times of Israel newspaper quoted the hostage families forum as saying.
“I insist that Hamas abandon its delusional demands. If it does so, we will be able to move forward,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday evening. Senior officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt had not reached an agreement the day before in Cairo, but agreed to extend talks at lower official levels by three days, the New York Times reported, citing an Egyptian official.
The Israeli delegation, led by the head of the Mossad secret service, David Barnea, left Cairo in the evening. “No new proposal from Hamas for the release of our hostages was submitted in Cairo,” Netanyahu said. According to Israeli media, he argues that a return to the talks in Cairo makes no sense as long as Hamas demands the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in return for the hostages.
According to The Times of Israel newspaper, the Islamist organization is demanding the release of around 1,500 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, including many convicted murderers and terrorists, in exchange for the remaining hostages kidnapped from Israel to the Gaza Strip on October 7 . Hamas is also demanding a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials have made it clear that Israel’s army will soon launch its planned offensive on the southern coastal town of Rafah if Hamas does not return to the negotiating table with a proposal that Israel considers more sensible, the Wall Street Journal quoted the newspaper as saying. a person familiar with Israel’s position.
However, Hamas circles said that it was Israel that was not moving forward with the negotiations. A Hamas delegation is in Cairo. Egyptian media had previously reported that the tenor of the talks had been “positive” so far. Egypt, Qatar and the US are making renewed efforts to bring about a longer ceasefire in the Gaza war. As part of an agreement, the hostages are to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in several phases.
During a week-long ceasefire last November, 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. There are currently 134 people in the hands of Hamas, but according to Israeli estimates, at least 30 of them are no longer alive.
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