The Palestinian armed group Hamas has proposed exchanging all Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners in one go during the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, with the aim of reaching a permanent truce and a full Israeli pullout.
In addition, the group has also confirmed that it will release six living hostages on Saturday, who were set to be freed in the first phase and return the bodies of four others tomorrow.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said the negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire deal will take place this week.
At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel in a Hamas-led attack on 7th of October, 2023, while more than 200 people were taken captive.
The Channel 12 news report came after the security cabinet met Monday night to discuss negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire agreement, which have yet to begin despite originally being expected to start on February 3. Kan news said Netanyahu is also demanding the demilitarization of the Strip.
Following the meeting, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that the talks on the second phase — which is expected to provide for the release of all remaining hostages, the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza and the end of the war — would begin “this week.”
Hinting at the stance Israel is expected to adopt in the upcoming negotiations, Sa’ar warned that Jerusalem “will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in Gaza.”
But, he added, if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.
“If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this timeframe work longer,” he said.
It is unclear how Netanyahu’s reported demands regarding the ousting of Hamas, which reflect his public insistence that the terror group must be completely destroyed, can be reconciled with his pledge to secure the release of all remaining Israeli captives. Many analysts have assessed that the only way to enable the release of all the hostages would be for Israel to agree to end the war with the terror group functional in Gaza in some form, a scenario Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Although Sa’ar said that the security cabinet had agreed to begin phase two talks later this week, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the negotiating team was still awaiting approval to head to Qatar for the talks.