An Israeli channel has revealed the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a proposal crafted by ministers within the war council to initiate new negotiations with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and to broker a deal leading to the release of Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday evening, Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Israeli ministers, who were unnamed, drafted the outline of a proposal in recent days that could eventually lead to a deal for releasing Israeli detainees held by “Hamas.”
Negotiations were expected to be promoted through an intermediary, unnamed in the report, but Netanyahu hardened his stance and ultimately rejected this initiative, according to the same source.
Netanyahu’s refusal came without the coordination with war council ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who both expressed their anger at the Prime Minister’s stance, as per the channel.
In this context, the channel cited unnamed political officials saying that Netanyahu “is obstructing the push towards a deal for releasing the detainees.”
Conversely, other political sources told the same channel that they “are still working on an Israeli plan,” and the initiative “has not stopped.”
Netanyahu’s office justified his position to the Israeli channel, explaining that “the condition demanded by Hamas, which the Prime Minister outright rejected, is ending the war.”
Israel says that “Hamas” still holds approximately 136 Israelis in Gaza since October 7 and demands a ceasefire in the enclave and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for freeing the Israeli captives they hold.
A temporary ceasefire between “Hamas” and Israel, which lasted a week until early December, resulted in the release of 80 Israeli detainees in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners from the occupation’s prisons.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli military has waged a devastating war on Gaza which, as of Wednesday, has left 24,448 martyrs and 61,504 wounded, and caused the displacement of more than 85% (about 1.9 million people) of the residents of the Strip.
